Evasive Maneuvers
by scripsisomnia
Summary: I believe there is a reason behind every action whether good or bad. Sometimes the good guys aren't all good and the ones who you thought were bad are only raising their weapons for what they believe is right. So then where do we all stand? Reverse Harem. OC.
1. The Third Great Shinobi World War

Chapter One: The Third Great Shinobi World War

* * *

Summer days were the ones I hated the most.

It was always so hot and I could never find a reason to stay outside and enjoy the sun like everyone else. So instead, I spent my time ducking under the shady roofs of market stalls and hiding in the thickets of cool trees.

Where my summer days went I don't know. Sometimes I would go fishing at a nearby pond and get in trouble later with the local farmer for trespassing onto his property, and other days I'd go exploring the caves near the sea farther from the village.

Despite the scorching heat, the beach was one of my favorite places. The large waves that crashed down on me and the pretty shells I would dig up with my shovel and bucket to collect—the endless expanse of blue made me feel light and free.

For me, life was about passing as much time as possible, with mindless games and made-up play. There were not many children that were my age in the village but it didn't bother me. I liked my solitude.

I picked up a stick and dug stray marks in the wet sand. Small crabs scuttled away in haste at my coming, and I looked out over the field of bright blue.

What was it like, I sometimes wondered, to throw yourself out into the sea and start an adventure? It was a secret fantasy of mine to rush away into the horizons and live life out at sea on a big wooden boat—just me and my grandparents. It'd be pretty salty and wet, I imagined, but well-worth the fun…

There was a low rustle in the tall grass and thistles on top of the sand dunes a few feet away and my eyes immediately focused on the spot.

_Probably just a seagull_…I thought.

Suddenly a large, dark form burst from the thicket and my voice pitched into a scream.

I hit the sand with a thump and stared up to see a man with long dark hair towering above me. He was tall and gaunt looking but it wasn't his intimidating form that scared me, it was his eyes—his large, leering, golden eyes.

He glanced down at me with a rather bored expression, the kind that came after expecting something great but instead finding disappointment.

"Just a child…," I heard him muse softly.

"Oiiiiiii! Did you find anything?" A distant voice called from the other side of the dunes. Two more large figures appeared; another man and a woman.

Great, the guy had friends…

The woman had very light blonde hair while the other man had a conspicuous spiky, white mane. But the strangest part of all three of their appearances was their clothes.

I had never seen clothes like theirs before. They looked thick and tough, plated with heavy metal and looked difficult to move in. The strangers themselves looked tired and worn as if they had travelled a very long way.

This is probably the part where I was supposed to fear for my life and fear I did. It crept up on me with a sudden prickly feeling and my head screamed at my legs to get moving away from the potential attackers.

"What's the big idea? You can't just waltz off on your own! This is unknown territory," the woman reprimanded the dark-haired one harshly.

Uh, oh.

He stuck a finger in his ear as if to unplug it. "Stop yelling, woman. I'm going to become deaf because of you…"

"Deaf? DEAF? I'll show you deaf!"

"Whoa, whoa there," the white-haired man said cautiously, raising his palms in the air between his two companions. He looked at them in irritation. I kind of felt sorry for him. He looked like the one who always got stuck on the middle. The poor sucker.

"Let's calm down and take a deep breath. I know we're all tired and we've been on this mission for more than a month but we need to do what sensei told us and lay low here until those troops come by…"

The rest was lost on me as I took this opportunity to try and discreetly crawl away from their heated discussion. I took about three steps before they finally realized I wasn't there anymore and they came after me.

I shrieked in terror as the dark-haired one swooped down and grabbed me by the scruff of my _yukata_*.

"Don't think you'll get away so easily…"

"Put the kid down. You're going to give her heart attack."

Yes, please put down the poor little kid covered in sand.

The scary one dropped me reluctantly while the not-so-scary one knelt down in front of me. He smiled.

"Hey, little girl, do you know if there's a village anywhere nearby? We're weary ninja, you see, and we need a place to stay."

Ninja? What the _heck_ was a ninja? I swore, this day just got weirder and weirder. All I wanted to do was kill some time by drawing in the sand. But no, instead, I get three funny-looking _ninja_ to play with…

"The village is that way," I pointed to my right, off in a direction past a large yellow wheat field.

"You mind leading the way?" the woman persuaded with a small smile.

"No, I don't mind," I said quietly, not quite sure what I was doing bringing in complete strangers to the village. The village elders weren't going to be happy about this…

We walked together for about fifteen minutes until we reached the outskirts of town.

"Can you believe this?" the woman addressed her companions incredulously, surveying the clean surroundings and the small quaint buildings. "This place is completely untouched. It's like the war isn't even happening here."

"Some would count that as a blessing," the white-haired man said solemnly.

"Or stupidity; these people are much too vulnerable to a surprise attack," the morbid one said, his golden eyes taking in some of the shabbier huts and the meandering townsfolk with distaste.

Several villagers stopped what they were doing to stare down the unwelcome guests. The woman glared back just as fiercely; the white-haired one walked by with an uneasy expression while the black-haired one ignored his entire surrounding.

I guess it was a strange bunch walking down the main street—three foreigners and one girl leading the way. Oh, well. They'd get over it.

We finally reached the front of my house where my foster grandparents and I lived.

Yes, that's right, I'm an orphan. I guess that would on the surface make me look a tad more pitiful than the next kid who has loving, breathing parents, but to me, this kind of life suits me just fine.

I get the "parental nutrition" that every kid deserves as well as an extra dose of independence to help speed me along in my maturing process. It isn't so bad; being independent just means being more free.

And my grandparents are a very nice couple and know that it doesn't mean anything to spoil or smother me with any of their expectations or love.

My hand reached up to knock on the door and my grandmother opened it.

"_Obaasan*_, I think these people need help."

My grandmother's expression was friendly at first but then she turned to look up at the guests and her face turned to stone. She welcomed them rather stiffly as if she was being careful to not say anything offensive and immediately called my grandfather.

Well that was new. I had never seen her act so cold or so uncomfortable around guests before. She was usually pretty enthusiastic about guests laughing and serving them rice cakes and tea. Guess not today.

I tried to follow after them into the kitchen but was promptly sent out to the back garden while she and grandpa talked with the newcomers. Of course, me being the little brat, I wasn't allowed in during "grown-up talk"…

Ugh.

I pressed my face against the glass sliding door of the house in hopes of hearing what they were talking about but all I heard were loud muffled noises.

After an hour, I was allowed back inside the house to help my grandmother set up some extra futons for the ninja. The ninja left to scout out the village until dinner.

I wondered what where they were going…

"What are ninjas, _obaasan_?" I asked timidly, unsure if I should be asking such a thing, she seemed so fearful of them like a child and their closet monsters only to find that they're real and terrifying. A horror story come to life.

She froze in mid-action as she was smoothing out the comforter making the wrinkles on her face set in deeper.

"They are…weapons, my dear. Weapons controlled by even more powerful weapons to mold the world as how they see fit. We are the wood, my dear, and they are the knives. The world you see around you is carved in their vision."

I frowned confused.

"But do not fret," she said, taking my hand in her gnarled ones and patting it gently. "For wood always grows back."

I went to bed early that night missing the ninjas coming home and instead lay in my own futon contemplating what my grandmother had said.

But how long does it take for the wood to grow back?

* * *

The next morning I got up to brew the tea for my grandfather like I did every morning. It was an easy job and I didn't mind doing it.

As I reached up on my little stool to grab the tea leave canteen, a hand reached over my head and grabbed it for me.

It was the white-haired ninja. "You're up pretty early for a kid."

I smiled.

"My _ojiisan*_ has a nasty cough when he gets up so I brew the tea the apothecary told us to give him—once in the morning and once at night."

I took the canteen and set to work.

"I make it in the morning so obasaan can sleep a few extra hours more."

The ninja laughed and ruffled up my hair. "You're a good kid." But then his laugh quickly died into a wry grimace. "I almost forgot what it was like to see people living their lives as normally as your family does. Makes me miss my own home," he admitted.

He watched as the sun broke across the horizon and the tiredness in his eyes shown. Weariness drew fine lines of constant worry and paranoia into his young face. He looked so sad.

I still didn't get what he was saying—try as I might.

"What's your name?" I asked. He forced himself to smile this time, the crinkle in his eye folded strangely.

"It's Jiraiya."

* * *

The week swept by and the ninjas from another land weren't around the house much except at night when they came in to eat dinner and then go to sleep.

Those free-loaders—eating up our food and then snoring away our space.

I asked Jaraiya one day what they were doing and he shrugged it off as top secret information. Funny thing was though sometimes I caught him napping in the branches of trees. Some secret mission.

My grandparents were just too nice—or too wary to chase them off.

"_Ojiisan_, are you alirght?"

My grandfather gave another violent cough.

"I'm alright, I'm alright. Don't worry about me. You and granny always fret about the tiniest croak," he waved me off, snatching a tissue to cover his mouth. He always tried to be casual about it but I knew better. He was worried about his just as much as grandmother and I.

"Turn on the radio for me, won't you?"

I did as I was told and walked out to the back porch to leave grandfather to his news and music. He usually sat there for hours listening to his wooden radio.

"He's going to die soon."

My head snapped up to see the mysterious dark-haired ninja. His skin was so pale, the black of his hair contrasted sharply with his features making them look pointed and unfriendly.

I was always afraid to be alone together with him without the comfort of Jiraiya or even the female ninja in the same room. Jiraiya told me his name was Orochimaru and that the woman's name was Tsunade. He said rather bitterly that they were famous for being known as the Three Legendary Sannin—a title which he seemed to detest in some way.

I wasn't sure how or why but I got the feeling that Orochimaru only stayed in line when the others were there with him. Otherwise he seemed scary and unstable…

"The apothecary told us the tea would heal him—"

"It doesn't matter. The old man's going to die either way."

Irritation set in. "He's not going to die! He'll be fine if he takes his medicine, alright?" I nearly shouted, annoyed with his condescending attitude and offended with his casual nonchalant attitude about another person's supposed death. I may have been a child but even I knew when someone was trying to make a fool of me.

He turned those luminous, golden eyes in my direction. "Trying to deny it won't help. You should give up and admit that he won't last till next winter."

"How do you know?" I challenged. "You're not even a doctor."

He smirked. "It's his breathing; I can tell that he used to be a heavy smoker. The old geezer's past due expiration—"

I cut him off by shoving against him with all my might as I stomped off angrily in the middle of his explanation not wanting to hear any more of it. He didn't even budge.

He looked back with a smug grin.

* * *

"These look great!" I talked to myself, walking down the street in the evening with sweet potatoes that I dug out and bought from a farmer half a mile from the village. His farm had the best sweet potatoes in the whole area. I always bought some every two weeks.

It was as I was walking home, mouth watering at the thought of the smell of warm, potatoey goodness that I noticed huge columns of smoke rising from the center of the village. Great plumes of red, orange and yellow swallowed building rooftop after rooftop and lit up the town in one huge fiery ball of flames.

My feet carried me faster to the village and soon I broke into a run right into the thick of it, not caring if the flames caught me or the smoke blinded my eyes.

"Obaasan! Ojiisan!"

I panicked as I heard the screams of terror from the villagers running about. Crowds of people pushed themselves this way and that, desperate to retrieve their belongings and their loved ones.

_No, no, no!_ I thought in despair.

Several brave people attempted to douse the fires with water-filled buckets, but the fire just seemed to spread faster. I was knocked to the floor by an elbow.

"OBAASAN! OJIISAN!"

Suddenly there was a flurry of new movement, this one swifter and more skilled as the dark forms weaved in and out of the ensuing chaos. I squinted to try and decipher who they were.

They moved strangely running up behind fleeing villagers and knocking them down. It took me two seconds to realize what they were doing.

They were killing the villagers.

Screams turned bloody and the villagers were brought down one by one. More slashes, more sprays of blood and my own voice joined their chorus as a slick wetness hit my face.

I ran haphazardly farther into the smoke and choked on the black, carbon air.

_Please!_ I prayed with all my might. _Please someone help me!_

My eyes squeezed shut with tears and my hands reached out for purchase. I think I was dying.

There was a yell close to me and I knew that I was doomed. The killers were closing in on me. I could feel my last scream bubbling up in my throat.

The next thing I knew I felt the swish of a blade but it missed me by a mere strand. They slashed at me again and I tried to swerve out of the way but in my panic ran headlong into an overhanging piece of broken wood.

There was a dull thud and then nothing.

I was gone.

* * *

**Author's note**: This story idea came to me one day when I thought about how there weren't many reverse harems or original characters under the Naruto category. I bet there are a lot of harem stories but not many reverse harems and I want to help change that statistic. If guys think it's alright to have a few extra lovers on hand, why can't girls?

For those of who may not know, a reverse harems is, obviously, the opposite of a harem. A reverse harem genre is when the main heroine(a girl) develops multiple love interests, relationships or connections to numerous male characters.

Original characters themselves are rare, whether it's the lack of interest or the difficulty in creating one but I find that it's a good challenge to take on.

One thing that you will see in my stories is whenever I use Japanese words in my fan fiction I will italicize them and put an asterisk on first reference and put the translation at the bottom of the chapter. Then after that they will not be italicized or have an asterisk next to it.

Here's the first set of words:

*yukata-- a Japanese garment, casual and usually worn as a summer kimono; they are also worn at traditional Japanese inns after bathing.

*Obaasan--grandmother; grandma

*Ojiisan-- grandfather; grandpa

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT REVIEWING:

Please leave a review. Constructive criticisms and opinions are welcome. Things like "Your story sucks." aren't going to help me write better so be specific. Flames, on the other hand, I really don't understand the logic behind a bunch of insults. They're demeaning and basically an attack on the person. Just keep them to yourselves.

You can also review and be anonymous as in you don't have to have an account with to be able to interview. Simply click the button at the bottom of the page that says 'Review this chapter' and just put whatever alias you would like as your signature.

Thank you.

-Scripsisomnia


	2. Orphan

Chapter Two: Orphan

* * *

There was nothing but pain. Pain in my legs, pain in my left shoulder, pain in my head…

I groaned and tried to move slowly. There were burns running up and down my legs and arms. They hurt like hell but I managed to push myself off the ground.

It was morning and the smell of burnt flesh, wood and coppery blood stained the air. There were dark stains on the ground like someone had spilled gallons of wine on the floor but I knew better.

The bodies of the villagers littered the floor—women and men, the young and the old...

My stomach lurched at the sight and the throbbing in my head made swallowing back the bile all the more difficult. All those people who I had lived with everyday were gone…lifeless and erased from this world. There was another burning feeling but it wasn't from my wounds. It was coming from somewhere deep inside my chest and I realized I was angry.

Soon the feeling in my stomach vanished. I tried not to look at the ground again.

"Ojiisan…Obaasan…"

My mouth felt parched and my throat hurt from yelling the night before. Though there was more pain, I pushed on, limping towards my home knowing that my ankle was sprained. But I had to find out what happened to my grandmother and grandfather…

_Please be okay_, I thought. _Please…_

The house was gone and the fence no longer existed; the roof caved in, the plants and greenery charred black and brown. I hobbled around the complex looking for any signs of life and found nothing.

I stood there for a while, shock settling in. I tried to tell myself that the whole village was burnt down too but I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea that my grandparents' house, _our_ house was totally destroyed—I was just here.

It was difficult to believe but I was homeless again.

The pull toward home no longer existed. I turned to go when I saw a familiar head of white hair coming towards me.

"Jiraiya!" I shouted in relief. "Jiraiya! Hurry! You have to help obaasan and ojiisan! You have to find them!"

Jiraiya jogged up to me and looked down at my injuries. He didn't say anything as he easily bent down to pick me up, cradling me in his arms. The armor he wore bumped against me uncomfortably and his silence deeply frightened me.

"Did you hear me?! Obaasan and Ojiisan! You have to find them!" I shouted, grasping the sleeves of his _gi*_ in desperation.

He continued to ignore me as he took me to a place deep into the woods. We soon reached a clearing where a camp was set up with a large group of people—they were all ninjas too.

"Medic! I need a medic! I have an injured civilian—a child!" Jiraiya shouted and a group of ninja came rushing to me and plucked me out of his arms. I clawed at Jiraiya's remaining hand.

"Wait! Where are they?!" I yelled in panic.

The medics easily overpowered me, snatching my hand from Jiraiya and for the next hour and a half they treated my wounds even as I struggled and cried. Eventually they had to tie me up to get me to sit still.

"There, there." A blonde female I recognized as Tsunade said, trying to calm me. "It's alright, kid. You're going to be fine—"

"I DON'T CARE IF I'M HURT! WHERE ARE MY GRANDPARENTS?!"

Tsunade pursed her lips in worry and looked towards Jaraiya for help. I didn't like the expression on her face—it was pitying and it made my blood run cold.

Jiraiya finally addressed me. "We found them…but…well…"

He didn't have to say more as he revealed a broken bit of machinery from his pocket. It was the turning dial of grandfather's radio, tarnished and burnt from the fire.

How many times had I turned that dial for grandfather so he could listen to the radio? How many times had he smiled as he sang along with his favorite songs and then smiled at me for knowing which stations he liked best? How many…?

Tsunade untied me so I could take the piece from his hand. It was still warm. I held it for a while, not really comprehending what the little piece of metal was trying to tell me.

"I'm sorry, kid...they're dead…" Jiraiya whispered sadly. "They were caught in the crossfire of the battle…"

Dead. They were dead. My grandparents were dead.

I didn't even feel it when Tsunade gently took the hand holding the radio bit and closed it.

"Listen, sweetheart. You're the only civilian to have survived this ambush so we'd like to take you back home with us. There's nothing left for you here anymore."

All my neighbors…all the kids I used to hang out with…all the villagers…

I didn't have a family anymore. I was an orphan once more…

"We're taking you to a place called Konohagakure in the Land of Fire—"

I flinched when she said the word 'fire'.

"—it's known as the Hidden Village in the Leaves. I'm sure you'll like it there."

I think I nodded at some point but I couldn't remember afterwards. Maybe I should ask them to check my brain too.

"What's your name?"

I blinked once, twice and then felt something wet spilling over my cheeks.

I was crying.

"My name's Sayuri. Okishi, Sayuri."

* * *

After giving a proper burial to my grandparents the three ninja and I departed from the others who would return to their respective posts.

The journey to Konoha was a long one. It took us about a week to get out of the country and another week to go the long way and skirt around the numerous battles going on in the Third Great Shinobi World War.

It was the first time I ever heard of it and Tsunade explained that ninja wars were virtually unknown in the civilian world. They were bloody and vicious but silent.

Sounded overrated to me—like one big flashy showdown that only ended up in tragedy instead actually of solving anything. A stupid war.

And because I came from such a small village, the issues of greater nations were probably ignored by village leaders who worried more about the food provisions for the upcoming winter than some nameless war.

I suppose I understood her reasoning but it still seemed so weird to know that it had been going on for a number of years right under my nose. The way Tsunade talked about people, about the villagers, made it seem like it was their fault for not knowing and getting themselves killed. I didn't like that…

But besides the long walks in the deep, dark forests-of-gloom-and-doom, there were many other things I tried not to think about…

Many nights I cried myself to sleep and nightmares came to me with each passing. I would wake up in the middle of the night with chills and often it was Orochimaru's leering, snake-like eyes that greeted me, standing guard during the night shift. It was always difficult to fall asleep again after seeing his face.

If I had gotten to my poor grandparents sooner, if I was just a bit faster and got to them before the killers had, would they have made it?

These thoughts never left me and I stumbled alongside the ninjas—listless, tired and numb. And then I wondered what would happen to me.

Would they throw me back into an orphanage? Or would they hold me captive? But what did I have to offer? No precious information, no fighting skills—nothing of value. I was worthless.

I missed my home and I missed my grandparents most of all.

When we finally reached the gates of the Hidden Village, I was mildly impressed. The gates to Konoha were vast and large; the huge wooden doors were so tall and imposing. I squinted up past the sun to see multiple towers running along the wall, filled with guards a few carrying spears and others watching the surrounding forest through their binoculars.

_Ohhh, scary_…I thought, sarcastically.

"Hey, could you let us in?" Tsunade shouted up at them, flashing a few papers as identification.

Once we got in, I tried to reign in my surprise.

There was so much going on, hordes of people crowding the streets buying items from open stalls, stuffed to the brim with everything from exotic fruits to priceless antiques. Colorful banners filled the skies and the happy chatter of the people left a pleasant hum in the air. Children of all ages ran by, some my age stopping to glance curiously at me as they laughed and swung around their fake plastic kunais and wooden katanas. The smell of cooking food from open door restaurants and outside grills reached my nose and my stomach growled hungrily in response.

I could smell the fried dumpling stand from where I stood across the bustling street…yeah, I was definitely hungry.

The most amazing part of the city though was miles inland toward a large rocky mountain area Konoha seemed to be leaning back on. It was the busts of colossal-sized faces carved into the front of the mountain. They seemed large even from where I was standing and I wondered who they were to be have been erected into stone.

It was cheerful here in the Hidden Village—nothing indicating the harsh reality on the other side of the wall. It was almost ironic.

I looked up to see Jiraiya smile widely—a first true genuine smile.

"It's good to be home."

Tsunade and Orochimaru separated saying that they had to turn in their reports for the mission and then head home.

They left me in Jiraiya's care, Tsunade at first expressing her concern of leaving me with "someone as useless as Jiraiya" while Orochimaru immediately stalked off. I was glad to see him go…he seriously gave me the creeps.

Jaraiya didn't seem to mind taking responsibility and even treated me to a meal. Yay for free food! We went to his favorite barbeque restaurant.

I ate a little more greedily than usual, the hunger from travel and having to eat nothing but dried rice and ninja vitamin pills getting to me.

"Woah, kid. Slow down," Jiraiya said, thumping me on the back as I choked from swallowing too fast. "Trust me the food's not going anywhere," he chuckled.

I secretly disagreed and wiped my mouth with a napkin. "So what's going to happen to me? Am I in trouble?"

"Trouble? No, why would you think that? You haven't done anything wrong."

_Yeah, except to be the only person to survive a ninja ambush, _I thought bitterly.

"We just need you to answer a few questions and then we'll take you to the city's orphanage where you'll stay for now."

My stomach plummeted. Why did I ever think I would never see another orphanage again? Of course, they were going to dump me there…

Jiraiya noticed my expression. "Hey, com'on. Don't look so down. I'm sure you'll find a nice family soon enough. Konoha is filled with kind people looking to expand their families."

A shapely young woman wearing a short skirt and revealing top walked by. Jiraiya whistled low.

"Damn. She can start a family with me any day," he muttered under his breath and then he looked at me and winked playfully. "Sayuri, you have to grow up to be just as pretty as her in ten years, okay?"

My brows knit together in confusion, the chopsticks in my hands that had been reaching for another cooked piece of meat soon forgotten.

Say what? Why did he care what I looked like in ten years? I would probably be the ugliest thing walking on two legs in the future…assuming I had one anyways, what with me not knowing what to do with my life and all…

After lunch, we headed straight to Konoha's main headquarters to fill out some paperwork to apply for a Konoha citizenship. At first they asked the routine questions such as my name and birthday. Blah, blah, blah. When they got to a question about why I wanted to be a Konoha citizen, I wasn't sure how to answer.

"Because she wants to be around someone as cool as me," Jiraiya grinned at me, ruffling my hair. I smiled back.

A ninja working behind the counter stamped the last bits of my forms and I was free to go. They said they would send me a letter in a few weeks time to get an update on the status of my application.

"Alright, next stop. The orphanage."

Just great…

We walked a few blocks to the east of the village into a more run-down area with older buildings and tattered rooftops. The orphanage itself wasn't too bad actually. It had mismatched tiles making up its roof and cracks running along its white walls. The bit of greenery on the sides of the orphanage wasn't green at all, it was brown now, the plants wilted from the lack of water.

I obviously didn't want to be there if the grimace on my face indicated anything. Jiraiya gave an apologetic smile before knocking on the wooden door.

A severe looking woman with a thin sharp nose tore open the door, eyeing the two of us together.

"What do you want?"

"Hi, I'm here to drop off Sayuri here. She'll be one of your dependents from now on."

"You have documents?" she asked in a haughty tone.

Jiraiya handed over a folder filled with the necessary papers.

The middle-aged graying woman looked down her nose at me distastefully. "Very well. Come inside, Sayuri."

I looked up at Jiraiya who nodded encouragingly. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay," I pretended to smile; only it came out to be a grimace. He leaned down to hug me and then let go.

"Good luck, Sayuri."

The door closed behind me.

Shit.

* * *

**Author's note:** Please leave a review.

As with all Japanese names, the surname goes before their first name so that's how all the characters' names will be addressed.

**Japanese translations:**

Gi- the top half of a wraparound jacket tied with a cloth belt; usually for martial arts wear


	3. To Be A Ninja

Chapter Three: To be a ninja

* * *

My room was the smallest in the whole hall. I got the itty bitty room with hardly any space to spare except for the futon and the foldable table and small closet. Not that I had that much stuff to put in there in the first place…

Maybe it was the fact that the orphanage was pretty much booked and with me on top of it, I guess I should have been thankful they even had space and didn't turn me out into the streets. But it was a lonely existence with no roommates to talk to.

At least I had a window to look onto the streets of Konoha if I got really bored…which was pretty much everyday.

Most of the other time when I wasn't creeping people out by staring at them from my windowsill, I did chores.

The headmistress who was in charge of the orphanage made sure to keep us kids busy by handing out chores as soon as we were done with one, making us do everything from reviving the dead plants in the front of the building to cleaning the toilets in the bathroom.

But chores were nothing new to me and eventually became routine over the next couple of months I stayed at the orphanage.

The next problem I had was something else entirely—it was school.

But why? Why did adults think it necessary to cram children's' brains with tediously boring information? It was absolute torture.

I was enrolled into the local public school for non-ninja children also known as "the-school-for-civilians-who-can't-fight-worth-a-damn-like-me".

It wasn't fair! I realized a long time ago after my grandparents died that I wished I knew how to fight; how to protect the ones you love; to defend your home and your family. I really wished I knew how to do that back then…

"'ey, watch it ya little runt!" a burly boy a few years older than me yelled.

Luck would have it that the orphanage's biggest bully had to cross my path. I guessed bad luck tended to run in the family.

Nobody liked this kid and I wondered if he knew that which was why he liked to beat up a bunch of snot-nosed kids and call it fun. He insisted on picking on the younger kids and to me that was just wrong. I mean they were little kids for crying out loud! The big idiot could be leaving some serious mental scars here.

But of course, the world revolved around him and what did he care if he could vent his frustrations on someone else. He and his gang always caused trouble for the headmistress.

He scowled deeply, making his piggish face scrunch up. I glared at him. He was the one who bumped into me first!

"What? Ya gonna do somethin' bout it?" he sneered at my expression, daring me to move. I snorted in disgust and turned to walk away. No, I wasn't going to do anything. He was just going to have to live with the knowledge that some of us didn't care if he even existed. Me being one of them that is, until a meaty hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me around.

"Don't ya walk away! I'm not done withchya, ya bitch!"

I slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me!" I yelled back.

And before I knew it, a fist swung out at me and I barely dodged it to see it almost hit my nose.

I screamed and dove as he tried again and this time he didn't miss.

I flew back as he caught me in my stomach with his foot and crashed into the ground. He was upon me in an instant, punching and kicking as I curled up into a little helpless ball. I groaned in pain.

He spit and I heard his friends roar with laughter as they walked away. The pain shot up in different places all over my body. I could feel the bruises welling up on my arms and legs and I could do nothing but limp back home, beaten and humiliated…

Such was the life of an insignificant orphan girl…

* * *

"Geez kid, what happened to you?!"

Jiraiya was horrified as he looked at the numerous bandages wrapped around my body.

He had just come back from his last mission and had decided to celebrate his return by treating me to dinner again. I was so grateful he was buying me a meal, I didn't mind telling him a white lie to make him stop worrying about me.

"I…I fell down a couple flights of stairs…"

I avoided his gaze as he stared down at me in disbelief.

"That has got to be the lamest excuse ever."

I half-smiled at him wryly. Maybe he wasn't really as dense as he pretended to be.

"Well, if you won't tell me then I'll just have to find out on my own—"

"No!" I yelled. "If you do that he'll just beat me up again!"

As much as I hated that bully and would gladly stand up to him, I had my face to think about. I wasn't exactly the expert on self-defense.

"So someone did do this to you!" he exclaimed angrily. His nostrils flared and his spiky white hair bristled venomously. "Where is the little punk? I'm gonna tear him limb from—"

Jiraiya stopped himself suddenly as a group of young women sitting across from us looked over at our table cautious but curious. "Eh he he…" Jiraiya laughed off nervously, waving at them awkwardly.

I rolled my eyes.

"Stop that. I am not a skirt-chasing, crazed pervert ruled by his hormones and his big…never mind." He cut off abruptly, forgetting that I was still very, very young. Jiraiya ruffled my hair affectionately but then looked at me in all seriousness.

"Now, look here, Sayuri, this isn't a laughing matter. We can't let him push you around like this forever."

Not pushing, Jaraiya, try pummeling.

He frowned as he sat there in deep thought while I ate the remaining chicken wings.

And then it came to him.

"I'll tell you what…I know some people who can teach you a thing or two while I'm away." Jiraiya winked.

"What do you mean?"

"Teach ya how to fight, kiddo," he said like it was obvious, pretending to box an imaginary opponent and jabbing his fists in the air. "It'll keep you on guard and keep me from having to worry about you getting hurt."

My face nearly split in half with my grin. "Really?! You will?!"

"Of course! We'll start next week once I get off work—"

I jumped over the table and hugged him fiercely around the neck. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! You're the best, Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya smiled smugly, patting me on the back. "Ah, the ladies just can't resist me."

The same group of attractive women from before eyed him accusingly, whispering to each other behind their hands and glaring.

"Er, wait…it's not what it looks like!" Jiraiya tried to tug me off him but I held on tightly. The group of women got up and walked past us in hushed disturbed tones as Jiraiya continued to struggle.

"Wait, ladies, wait! I am _not_ a pedophile, I swear! Wait! Wait! Aw, com'on, you know I wouldn't do something like that!"

I laughed loudly till my stomach hurt. "Get—off—me—Sayuri!"

We watched the lovely ladies leave and by now the whole restaurant was staring at us.

"Dammit!"

* * *

The next couple of days couldn't have gone by fast enough as I eagerly anticipated the kinds of things my new teacher would teach me.

Would he teach me how to throw those cool ninja stars or how to sneak around the enemy and surprise them from behind? Or maybe I would even get to learn a few martial arts moves and learn how to beat up some bad guys?

I couldn't wait to start kicking some serious ass.

It was a little early but I got to our designated meeting place, a training ground of some sort out in an open dirt field by the woods.

Ten minutes passed as I started scratching pictures into the earth with a stick when I saw Jiraiya walking towards me with a smile on his face. He was with two other people, striding along with him—one I had a feeling I recognized but the other I had never seen before.

"Minato, this is the kid I was talking about the other night, Okishi Sayuri. Sayuri, this is Namikaze Minato, Konoha's Hokage and your _sensei_."

My jaw dropped. Hokage. _The_ Hokage was going to be my new teacher?! The guy with his face carved into a mountain side?!

"Wow…" I gaped up at him, my mouth hanging open.

A snort from the Hokage's side and my eyes veered over to look at the new face next to him…or at least what I could see of his face.

The young ninja was wearing a mask that covered the lower half of his face up to his nose. The only thing I could see was a lazy pair of dark eyes and he couldn't have been but a few years older than me.

"This is Hatake Kakashi. He will be my assistant during the training," the Hokage said. "Kakashi, this is Sayuri."

He nodded his head in recognition but with a bored expression as if he really didn't want to waste his life here.

"Well then, why don't we get started?" Jiraiya beamed.

For the next few hours, I didn't do anything that I imagined I would be doing. Instead I sat there with them as they explained all about the fundamentals of being a ninja.

They talked about kunais, jutsus, and a whole bunch of other ninja stuff I couldn't recall. But most of all, we talked about chakra. It was so complex but I think I got the gist of it. Basically chakra is the result of spirit and physical energy molded together.

The more that one trains to control it, the better the skills of the ninja.

Every living being has chakra but that doesn't mean they can all use it. But they do have a need for it in order to live. It is the basic life force of a person.

Now the real question was if I could even use it? They decided to test it out.

"Your first training lesson will be very simple and basic."

The Hokage plucked a leaf from a nearby tree and placed it on top of my forehead. I had a strange urge to scratch.

"You will have to make this leaf curl of its own accord using your chakra. This is called Leaf Concentration and is the first lesson ninja are taught before they do anything to determine if they are capable of manipulating one's chakra."

My eyes nearly crossed over trying to get a good look at the little green leaf on my forehead.

"It's a rather traditional first lesson for Konoha ninja but it'll do," the spiky blonde-haired Hokage smiled kindly.

"Yes, sir!" I saluted seriously, making sure the leaf stayed where it was. I thought I heard another snort in the background.

"Take your time and practice focusing your chakra towards the leaf. Imagine pulling energy from your stomach to your forehead and making the leaf bend. We'll meet up again next week to see the progress of your training alright, Sayuri?"

"Yes!" I replied eagerly. The Hokage laughed and patted my shoulder. "You were right, Jiraiya. She's very cute."

Jiraiya chuckled while I bowed my head in embarrassment, the leaf floating to the ground.

"Well, Sayuri I hope the next time I see you, you'll be much stronger," Jiraiya said, resting a hand on my head.

"What do you mean 'next time'?" I asked confused. "Are you going somewhere?"

Jiraiya smiled a small but sad smile. "Yeah, sorry about that, kiddo. I'll be leaving today to travel. It's been a very big dream of mine to explore and see the world and I finally get the chance to do it. I'm even going to start on my romance novels!" he explained excitedly. "Just you wait, Sayuri! Soon everyone will know the name Jiraiya to be a great romance novelist!"

A romance novel? Him, Jiraiya? Suuuure.

"I'll certainly look forward to them," the Hokage said slyly, revealing a mischievous grin. Jiraiya grinned back just as wickedly. I felt like I was some missing some sort of inside joke.

Then I frowned. "But you're leaving me…" I whispered. "I won't have anyone else to talk to…"

Jiraiya kneeled down so that he was at my eye level.

"You think I would leave you in the care of just anybody? Why do you think I went to the trouble to get _the_ Hokage to look after you?" he teased.

He was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn't working.

"You'll make plenty of friends, Sayuri. I know you will, kid. You got a good heart. And I won't be gone forever. I'll drop in every now and then, just to check up on you."

"You have to come back," I made him promise. "The next time you come back, you won't even recognize me," I vowed.

If I was going to do this, I wanted to be the best. I didn't want to half-ass it. I wanted to put in my all. I wanted to be strong. Jiraiya wasn't just wasting his time on me; I wasn't saved from my tiny village for nothing. I would repay him for saving my life and his kindness to me by becoming a protector of Konoha and I briefly thought of my grandparents.

Iwould be strong for him and for this new purpose he granted me. I would be a ninja.

Jiraiya beamed, happy with my determined response. "That's my girl."

* * *

**Author's note**: Please leave a review and thank you.


	4. Lessons

Chapter Four: Lessons

* * *

"You're throwing that wrong, you know."

I looked up annoyed at the older boy as he watched me practice chucking kunai at a target thirty feet away from me. He thought he was so cool, looking down at me from up in that tree. I imagined cutting it down.

Timberrrrrr!

"How so?"

"You're throwing out your shoulder too much," the silver-haired ninja answered confidently. "Try flicking your wrist instead," he suggested.

It had been four months since Jiraiya left and my private lessons with the Hokage was booming. I excelled and learned my lessons quickly, impressing him with my quick progress. He said that I could soon transfer from my civilian school to the Konoha Shinobi Academy.

The academy would take me in the middle of the year but they said it would be alright since all the students would be just coming back from their summer break anyway.*

It would be starting next week and I was so excited I could hardly concentrate on what I was doing at the moment.

These days though, the Hokage was so busy with the Third Great Shinobi World War, battling the vicious, powerful demon monsters unleashed onto the world that he didn't have the time to train me. He had a lot on his shoulders…

So instead of "proper instruction", I got the second rate assistant let's-snicker-every-time-Sayuri-looks-stupid Hatake Kakashi. He wasn't helpful at all, telling me what to do and criticizing me at every turn. I mean really, the guy didn't even know what the term _constructive_ criticism meant.

I tried the flicking technique but the ninja knife fell even farther to the wayside.

"No, now you're not throwing it hard enough. Use your wrist and try to flick it at the last instant," Kakashi commanded again.

"I'm trying…" I muttered darkly under my breath. "It's not like you're doing anything…"

Suddenly Kakashi jumped up from his spot in the tree. He twirled, floating in midair while throwing his kunai at velocities I didn't think were possible and hitting every target dummy right in the dead center before landing gracefully back on his feet.

He plucked a leaf off his shoulder.

"Did that look like something?"

I felt the blush heat up my face. Show off.

"Try it again. Come on, I haven't got all day," he said with a bored drawl.

I sighed and flicked the kunai again. Miraculously, it worked this time. A little off center but I hit it nonetheless. I couldn't help jumping up and down happily.

"I did it! I did it! Did you see that, Kakashi?! I did it!"

Kakashi let his eyes crinkle up in a smile. "That's great. You hit him. But did you kill him?"

The jumping stopped.

"You hit him in the leg. But is that going to stop him from getting back up and killing you?" Kakashi continued to ask, the smile wiped completely from his face and replaced with a serious expression. I frowned.

"Or even worse, he could escape. And then what? He'll have information on you to give to others so that _they_ can kill you."

Kakashi grabbed another kunai and flung it.

"You have to be strong, Sayuri. Ninjas do not 'hit'."

The kunai stabbed the dummy straight in the stomach.

"They kill."

* * *

The next few days became more intense and my training was getting more difficult by the hour.

Kakashi would make me do push-ups, sit-ups and every other up motion workout there was. He made me practice targets repeatedly until I hit the correct marks and if I strayed even by a centimeter he would make me do it all over again.

By the end of the day my entire body would be sore. Invisible lead weights attached themselves to my limbs whenever I tried to crawl out of bed but it felt great to get stuff done.

And then one day I stumbled across the bully again, swaggering across the lawn. Yeah, I definitely had bad luck…

"Ready for another lesson?" His voice menacing as he cracked his knuckles.

I braced myself, my shoulders tensed with anticipation. I wasn't sure if I could beat him but I'd damn well try.

"I'm warning you this time. Leave me alone."

"Oh? You're warning me, ya little bitch?" he scoffed. The muscles of his arms flexed menacingly. "Let's see how long you'll cry this time..."

He lunged swinging one of his arms wildly in my direction. I dove out of the way and pivoted just as he passed bringing my leg down but he was faster, turning and grabbing my foot, dragging me to the floor.

The bully threw me hard against the dirt and my head cracked against the gravel, spots forming before my eyes. I scrambled to get up but he landed on top of me, crushing the air right out of my lungs. He grabbed my shirt and lifted me as my feet dangled lifelessly off the floor.

Damn it all.

"Too slow," he sneered.

He punched me thrusting a fist into my cheek as I yelled out in pain. I could feel my cheek swell upon impact and before I could fully register the pain from the first punch he swung again, this time hitting my head. It felt like someone split my head open with a hammer; his thumbnail ripping my scalp from the force of the punch, the blood flowing freely.

"Oops, sorry," he laughed and grinned. "That's two but looks like you won't be awake for the third."

Just as he raised meaty fist to knock me cold, a glint of metal caught my eye.

"Let her go."

Kakashi barely reached the corner of my vision as the world started to darken.

His kunai dug a little deeper into the skin of the bully's neck as he hesitated and reluctantly put me back down, but still holding me in place.

The bully glanced down at the sharp kunai, to me and then to Kakashi. "Who the fuck are you?"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

Suddenly I was dropped and my body crumbled to the floor, disoriented with pain and dizziness. There was a loud yell and sounds of a struggle then finally a scampering of feet as someone ran off whimpering in fear.

Gentle hands lifted me up into a sitting position.

"You're an idiot, you know that? What were you thinking?"

My eyes rolled up to see Kakashi. "How not to get beat up." I raised a hand to the bump on my head. "I don't think it worked."

Kakashi shook his head. "He's three times bigger than you. You should've ran."

I tried my best to glare. "I don't want to be a wuss. What if he comes back?"

"It's not being a wuss, it's about knowing the limits to your fights," he lectured. I always got tired of his lectures. "And he'll never bother you again," he added darkly.

Kakashi brushed my swollen cheek. "You look like a mess."

"Thanks," I bit out sarcastically.

He took a hand and probed the bump too. "It doesn't look too bad but we should still take you to…" he paused. I watched as his eye twitched at the next word. "…the hospital. Make sure you don't have a concussion."

"You don't have to follow me to the hospital. I can go on my own if you'd like."

"I don't think you could make it on your own even if you wanted to." He helped me get up and we walked…well, I swayed and he walked, down to the hospital.

Upon reaching our destination and sitting in the waiting room for thirty minutes, I was immediately sent to a room to await the doctor, Kakashi fidgeting as we waited.

It was just in time because Kakashi's patience had run out and he asked if it was okay for him to leave. I wondered why he didn't like hospitals…

"I have to go now." He stood up slowly and traced his eyes from my bloated face to the dried blood from my head.

"Feel better," he added, but the expression held little warmth.

I heaved myself up onto the examination table, the paper crinkling as I sat.

"Okay, I'll see you at training. Thanks for bringing me he—" I barely got to finish the sentence before he slipped out the door.

* * *

"Alright class, welcome back from summer break. I hope everyone is ready to learn some new ninja techniques this semester. But before we begin our lesson today, I'd like to introduce a new classmate who will be joining you all this year. You can come in now."

I walked in with stiff legs as the nervousness squirmed around in my stomach. "Go on. Introduce yourself to the class, please."

Thirty pairs of eyes turned their attention towards me—a few boys snickering behind their hands and the girls watching me curiously. Why was standing in front of one's peers so difficult?

"My name's Okishi Sayuri. It's nice to meet you all."

I tried to smile but I guess it didn't have the desired effect because a brown-haired boy in front drew back.

"Sayuri is a transfer student, so I would like all of you to do your best to welcome her, alright class?"

"Yes, sensei," they all chorused together.

"Sayuri, you may sit over there at that empty desk."

The classroom was built like a small auditorium arranged so that it each row of connected desks was one level up of the next consecutive one with a long staircase that ran through the middle of it. It was a nice dome shape so that people could see the podium in front with the large chalkboard where the sensei lectured.

This was much more sophisticated than the regular classroom at my old school. Guess they could spare a few perks for the future soldiers of Konoha.

I walked up the stair steps and sat a row down of a boy with long dark hair pulled back into a short ponytail. There was a pretty blonde-haired girl beside me on the left and another dark-haired boy on my right.

The sensei clapped his hands together with a grin. "Now, let's get started."

* * *

**Author's note**: Pretty please leave a review. Come on guys, just give me something to gnaw on. Thanks. :)


	5. A New Friend

Chapter Five: A New Friend

* * *

You know when I came to the Shinobi Academy I was expecting a lot of things. Like maybe intense training with kunai target practice or even learning a few advanced jutsus to get under our belts.

But what do I get instead? Flowers. I was learning how to arrange flowers.

I mentally smacked myself in the forehead.

For the next ten days, the boys and girls were separated to specialize in certain fields. The boys would be learning from sensei the basics of decoding messages and how to survive out in the wild while the girls would be learning from a substitute female ninja called a _kunoichi* _about the basics of flower arrangement.

We were currently out in a large meadow of Konoha and I picked up blooming daisies rather viciously in my frustration. I couldn't believe the girls were learning something as useless as flower arrangement. What were we going when the enemy attack? Throw petals at them?

I grumbled darkly and ripped up a large yellow dandelion out of an area of patchy grass.

"Oh good one, Sayuri. You're really getting a real hang of differentiating between the weeds and the flowers," the kunoichi sensei complimented.

I didn't even try to hide my obvious disappointment with this lesson.

The pretty blonde-haired girl who sat next to me in class hummed happily as she picked up another red tulip to match her batch of flowers. At least someone was having fun…

"Alright girls, gather around. Let's see how you did."

All the girls lined up to have their bouquets graded and I sat on the grass at the back of line. It was going to take a while anyway.

"Is that really what you're going to turn in?" the blonde-haired girl asked amused. She tilted her head to the side and examined my hideous, color-clashing bouquet of orange and pink.

"Of course I am," I said confidentially. "This is art."

"It isn't very good art then, is it?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "No, you just don't know what true art is."

She giggled. "Hmm, and I'm guessing you do."

"Heck yeah, I do," I replied smugly.

"You're the new girl, Sayuri, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. And your name is…?"

She stuck out her hand and I shook it. "Higamuade Akahana. But you can just call me Hana."

I think I just made a new friend. "So Hana, you obviously like this lesson," I said casually plucking a leaf off the bouguet. "Why?"

"Well you do know there's more to it than just picking the right complimentary colors and arranging them into a nice shape, right?"

I snorted. "Choosing the right ribbon?"

"No, silly," she laughed. "We can use them to drug the enemy."

I looked at my harmless cluster of daisies. "We can?"

Hana nodded. "Kunoichi have to be good at hiding the fact that they're shinobi. Sometimes missions say we have to immobilize or assassinate the enemy. We can do it through an innocent little gift like flowers. We'll just add a little something extra; they'll accept the gift; take a whiff and—"

She imitated inhaling the fowery scent,"—voila! They're out."

I smirked at the thought. Okay, I admit. That was kind of cool.

Then a thought struck me. "Then why the heck should I care if it looks good or not?!" I shouted, tossing the flowers onto the ground.

Hana gave me a dead-panned look. "Would _you_ want a bouquet like that?" she asked pointing to my hideous creation.

I glared at her.

Hana-1, Sayuri-0.

* * *

Kunoichi training went well and soon I learned a whole new bunch of skills from using sharp-edged fans to learning the complex processes of tea ceremonies for undercover work. It really wasn't so bad, but sometimes I still envied the boys for the things they got to do.

On the other hand, Hana and I worked well together and we soon became fast friends. We hung out all the time, eating, playing and training together. I hadn't realized until then that the kind of life I had before was sort of a lonely one.

"Hey Sayuri, check it out, it's that kid who always sits next to you."

I looked over at the same dark-haired boy that sat next to me the first day I entered the academy. He immediately dropped his gaze when our eyes met.

"Who? Jiro?" I asked, biting into my tuna-stuffed _onigiri_*. It was lunchtime and Hana and I decided to eat outside on the picnic tables. "What about him?"

"He's doing that thing again," Hana said with a knowing smile. "You know…he's staring at you."

I laughed. "He probably wonders why he has to sit next to a freak like me every day."

"Well, that's the thing!" Hana exclaimed wildly. "None of us exactly have assigned seats. So we can basically sit anywhere we want. But every time you and I move, he moves with us!"

I thought it about it for a while. "Maybe it's just coincidence," I shrugged.

"Yeah, a whole bunch of them," Hana snorted disbelievingly. "I think he likes you."

"WHAT?!" I fell out of my bench and a group of boys huddled under a tree barked in laughter.

"_What do you mean he likes me_?" I whispered fiercely. She better have a good reason to say that.

Hana crossed her arms and eyed me as if I was the dumbest person in the world. "I mean that he has a crush on you. He likes you. He might even be in_ love_ with you."

My stomach squirmed uncomfortably. "You're kidding, right? Me? Why the hell would Jiro like me?"

It wasn't like I talked to the guy often or anything. We would acknowledge each other every now and then in casual passing but he didn't seem to show any interest in getting to know me better before. So how could he like me?

"I think you're wrong on this one," I said, settling back down onto the bench and throwing away the rest of the dirt-covered rice ball.

"Well, I think I'm right," Hana said stubbornly. "And to prove it, I think I'm going to ask him if he likes you right now," she said as she immediately marched in his direction.

"WAIT!" I panicked, running after her. I flung out my arms in front of her to stop her. "Are you insane? Do you want me to be embarrassed for the rest of my life?"

Hana laughed. "Oh com'on. It's not such a big deal. This kind of thing happens all the time. Don't worry, Sayuri, I'll make him spit out the truth," she said, winking as she walked by.

I ran back to our table, and pretended to be busy stuffing myself with more rice balls while Hana approached Jiro at his table.

Hana cleared her throat. "Hi, Jiro. Could I talk to you for a bit?"

Jiro must have known what was coming to him because he flushed a brilliant shade of red. I watched from the corner of my eye as Hana's smug grin widened at his reaction.

"S-sure. W-what did you want to talk about, Hana?"

"Oh, well, I just wanted to ask you something simple," she said pleasantly. "Do you like Sayuri?"

His eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"Do you have a crush on Sayuri?" Hana pressed, leaning over the table to stare him in the eye, her pretty long strawberry blonde hair cascading over her shoulder.

Jiro backed up and gulped nervously at her closeness but managed to say a few fumbled words.

"N-n-no, I don't."

Hana frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Y-yes."

I could just see the wrinkles forming on her forehead. "But don't you always follow her? You always sit next to her in class and stare at her when she's not looking—"

Jiro got up abruptly, slamming his fists on the table. "NO! I'm not following her, I'm following y—"

The words died on his tongue and he clammed up just as suddenly, the red on his face growing redder. Jiro didn't say another word as he grabbed his lunch and ran back into the academy.

Hana scratched the back of her head in confusion.

"Was it something I said?"

* * *

For the next two weeks, Jiro's staring sessions intensified and this time I was aware of it. I caught him eyeballing Hana and me at every minute of the hour. Finally I had had enough.

"ARGHH! He's driving me insane!" I shouted, tugging on my hair in a sudden wave of madness. "I tried to be nice thinking that he had some visual nerve problem, but I feel so paranoid now knowing that he's watching our backs 24/7 that it's making me go crazy!"

A group of girls a few feet away looked over at us annoyed. A girl in particular with long dark hair tied up into two ponytails on the sides of her head glared at me. I distinctly remember her always around the boy who sat behind me in class…they were dating or something.

"Could you keep it down?" she asked, in a snobby voice.

"My bad," I mumbled.

Hana picked at her nails in disinterest. "I think Jiro's doing this on purpose."

"That's it! I'm poking his eyes out!"

Hana grabbed the scruff of my shirt. "You can't do that."

I struggled in her tight grip. "Sure, I can. It's easy. All I have to do is stick this kunai right into his eyeball—"

"I mean you can't do that because I won't let you," she cut off. I stopped struggling. "Why not?"

"Because I think he's doing this so you'll finally notice him and talk to him."

I turned to look at her skeptically. "How did you figure that out?"

"Just go and talk to him," Hana ordered in exasperation, tired of the argument. "Ask him what he wants and be done with it."

There were so many things that could turn out badly with a creepizoid like Jiro but I guess I didn't have much of a choice if I wanted him to stop the whole stalking thing. Confrontation it is.

I walked to the other side of the training field.

"Jiro! Hey, Jiro!"

Jiro dived back behind the book he was pretending to read as I approached. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the poor boy was holding the novel upside down.

"Hey, can I talk to you?"

Jiro looked up at me warily. "What do you want?"

I folded my hands in front of my chest. "I'll just get straight to the point. Why do you keep staring at me?"

I could tell I caught him off guard because he opened his mouth to retort but then closed it. He paused for a second, seeming to weigh if he should answer or deny it and shoo me away. I wasn't about to let him choose the latter.

"You can't lie to me. Hana and I've seen you do it _every_ day for the past few weeks. Is there something you'd like to tell me?" I tried to ask in the nicest tone possible. That nice part was definitely a stretch…

"I'm not staring at _you_," he said appalled. He looked as if the thought of it made him sick.

"Yes, you are! Don't deny it!" I shouted.

Jiro set down his book and bit his thumb nervously. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth again.

"I like her," he whispered quietly.

I frowned in confusion. "Who? Me?"

"No. Your friend, Akahana."

It took me a few seconds to recover.

"You like Ha—mph!" Jiro slapped a hand across my mouth.

"Shhh! Shut up, alright?" he hissed angrily. He looked around to make sure no one overheard him.

"I haven't told anyone about this but you!"

Jiro let go but my mouth hung open. This whole time, he hadn't been staring at me—he had been staring at Hana!

I couldn't believe it…this whole time we were pointing fingers at the wrong girl. I laughed strangely in relief.

"Well, that's great! Why don't you tell her?" I said good-naturedly, thumping him on his back.

He glared at me. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you like her?"

"And if I get rejected? Then what?"

I tried to say something but it came back out as a whoosh of air instead.

"Exactly. Akahana would hate me and then I'd be laughed at from now until graduation."

His discouraging words bothered me. His self-esteem was way down there…

"Ah, don't say that… I'm sure we could find out if she has feelings for you or n—"

"You would?!" he exclaimed suddenly, jumping up, the book in is lap clattering to the floor. He stepped within an inch of my face, his eyes shining brightly.

"You would really do that for me?" he asked again, clasping my hands tightly. "Please say you will, Sayuri. Please, please!"

"Alright, already! I'll do it. Just back off lover-boy," I said shaking him off, officially creeped out with his excited little fit.

Jiro hopped up and down in the air happily, punching the air whilst saying 'Yes! Yes!'

What could I say? He was a man on a mission and I had to help the poor guy out…he seemed a little desperate…

I turned my head to look over at Hana worriedly, as she turned her gaze from the group of boys hanging out by the swing set to watch Jiro's cheerful display. She then turned to look at me questioningly.

I shrugged.

* * *

The next morning as promised, I made sure to corner Hana before school to see what she thought of Jiro. I wasn't sure it was going to be good but I did tell him that I was going to find out…I just hoped he liked her answer.

I was walking towards the building to see Hana waiting for me by the school's gateway.

"Hey, Hana," I waved. But she didn't wave back. Her attention was once again focused on the group of boys walking into the school.

"Earth to Hana…" I tried again upon reaching her, waving my hand in front of her face.

"Oh, what?" she started, shaking her head.

"Uhm, you okay? You seem a little out of it."

"Oh…" She heaved a little sigh. "It's nothing. I just…" Hana's eyes glanced back at the group and my eyes followed with her. She was staring at a boy in our class with long-dark hair pulled into a short ponytail.

"You sure you're okay?"

Hana whipped her attention to me. "Y-yeah, I'm fine…it's just…"

Hana dropped her gaze and twisted the strap of her backpack anxiously. "Sayuri…what do you think about him?"

"Him who?"

"Uchiha Itachi."

Well, this was different. For starters, I had never seen her act like this before especially when talking about a person whom I had never spoken but a maximum of three words to. And the other thing that got me was Hana was actually acting all timid and shy when she asked about him.

Her cheeks were flushed a bright shade of pink and she refused to concentrate on anything but the tips of her open-toed shoes.

What was even more surprising was the fact she was talking about a classmate of ours who was heralded as the so-called 'genius' of our class by all the instructors.

Itachi was a year younger than everyone in our class (except me because I started a year earlier than even him but that was only because the Hokage recommended me and I definitely wouldn't be graduating anytime soon) and yet the teachers predicted that he would graduate at the top of the class by the beginning of spring.

He was also very popular among the students. Admired by the boys and ogled at by the girls, Itachi was a certified ladies' man.

He even had a fan club dedicated to him by the very same girls who would giggle whenever they saw him walking by in the hallways.

The president of his fan club, the girl with pigtails was his current squeeze. I heard he liked to change his girl every month or so…the cocky little bastard.

And what was even funnier was the fact that Itachi and Jiro were actually cousins. They were both from the renowned Uchiha clan. Now _that_ was funny.

It was kind of ridiculous; putting up this much hype over a genius-pretty-boy…personally I thought he looked like a big ol' snob. He always had this air about him—superior and mysterious. As if he couldn't bother to tell you what was on his mind; as if no one could understand. So why Hana was bringing up such a random subject was a mystery to me…?

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

The blushing. The stuttering. The 'what-do-you-think-about-him' kind of questions. I had seen all these symptoms before.

"Hana…you like _Itachi_?" I gasped.

She blushed even harder but didn't deny it. I let out a barking laugh.

"You can't be serious, Hana. He's a jerk," I said, disappointed in her choice.

"How do you know?" she countered, feeling snubbed.

"Because he changes his girlfriend every month."

"That's only a rumor. He's been with the same girl for over seven months now."

"Because…" I trailed off. Alright damn it, I got nothing…

"See? You can't even come back with a decent comeback because you don't know him."

"Oh, and you do?"

She frowned in a way I knew that I had hurt her feelings.

"You know I didn't mean anything by it," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm just worried about you, alright?"

She smiled a little. "So you think I have a chance?"

I laughed harder. "Of course you do, silly. Probably more so than any of these dumb bimbos out here. You're smart, pretty, good at taijutsu…how could he not choose you?"

"Thanks," she grinned.

"Well, I guess all we need to do now is to get him to ask you out."

Hana pulled on a guilty expression. "I already did…"

My jaw dropped.

"I asked him yesterday, after you left," she said mournfully, as if reliving the nightmare. She grasped the long sleeve of my shirt with pleading eyes. "I walked home with him…and then it just happened…we were talking about our favorite ice cream flavors…and it turned into us getting some ice cream sometime together…and then it all came rushing out…"

For some reason I was having trouble trying to get caught up with all this new information. I was guessing it was the end of the month already and that Itachi had broken up with the his fan club president.

"Soooo, you asked him out…what did he _say_?"

"That's the thing," Hana said, shaking my shoulders in frustration. "He told me he would give me his answer today after school!"

Hana squatted down with a whimper, clutching her head. "I was thinking to call in sick today, but then I remembered I hadn't told you what happened last night and I was so sorry because I didn't tell you before I told him that I liked him and…and…"

"It's okay!" I tried to tell her, patting her back reassuringly. Talk about freaking out.

"You did the right thing letting him know first. It wouldn't have done you any good to tell me anyway," I laughed jokingly.

She smiled uneasily. "But what do I do now, Sayuri?"

"Oh, well that's easy," I said, brushing myself off. "You'll wait for his answer and if he says 'yes' then good for him. But if he says 'no', I don't care what his excuse is; I'm going to give him a black eye."

Hana laughed loudly.

"You're awesome, Sayuri."

I smiled back at her cheekily.

"I know."

* * *

**Author's note: **As always, please leave a review. Thanks!

Japanese to English translations:

Kunoichi--a female ninja

Onigiri--a rice ball in Nori seaweed and sometimes filled with fish or pickled plum


	6. Wrath

Chapter Six: Wrath

* * *

"What are you doing?"

I looked up in surprise to see Kakashi catch me uprooting dead plants in the front lawn of the orphanage. He was casually passing through from what I could tell of his lazy saunter.

"Gardening," I replied, continuing what I was doing. I knew I didn't really have to do this sort of thing but I had lots of time and so I thought I might work on a little project while I was bored.

The best thing was that plants don't need to be talked to; they speak through growth and sprouting leaves. Sometimes it's nice to know that I'm not always thinking of ways to kill a person but instead learning how to create it too.

The spiky silver-haired boy came closer and squatted beside me. He watched as I tugged on a dead flower.

"Looks like it needs a lot of work," he pointed out flatly. I pulled out another withered little shrub.

"Yeah, I know. But don't worry, it'll look great by the time I'm done with it." I spoke with confidence, yanking on a tough root. "I'll make this garden look alive again."

Kakashi got up and folded his arms across his chest. He tilted his head slightly to the side. "Did you get permission from the headmistress?"

I shook my head slowly. "No, I'm sort of doing this on my own. I don't think she'll mind though..."

My hand reached forward to grab another plant but Kakashi was faster and snatched my hand back. "So you're breaking the rules?" he asked quietly, a soft dangerous edge to his voice.

I looked up at him in confusion. "Uh, no. I'm just cleaning up her garden—"

"But she didn't give you permission to do it, did she?" he cut off, still clutching my hand tightly. His brows furrowed giving him a stern appearance as if I was the naughty child and he was the strict parent. Kakashi was uptight and unyielding as usual.

"Well…technically no..." my words trailed off again, this time wary of his sudden antagonism.

"Then stop gardening, Sayuri. You're not allowed."

I squirmed out of his grip, indignant. "What's your problem? I don't get why you're getting so uptight about a little gardening?"

"It's not a 'little gardening' if you're not following the rules," he gritted out, glaring down at me.

Was this guy serious? Kakashi must've been in a really bad mood and decided to take it out on me because this was getting ridiculous.

"And what are you going to do? You think you're going to stop me?" I challenged, my temper suddenly flaring. He was making a big fuss over something so trivial; coming out of nowhere and telling me what to do. He was pushy, arrogant, over-bearing and condescending—I refused to be his punching bag.

Kakashi flexed his arms menacingly. "If I must…"

I dove for his head but he was too quick. In one twist of the arm, he had me eating dirt with my right arm pinned to my back. I spit out bits of dead grass.

"Get off of me, you jerk!" I screamed in outrage. I tried to push back with all my might, getting angrier by the second. But he held me tightly, not even letting me move a finger as his weight crushed me from above.

"Only if you promise never to break the rules again."

"You can kiss my a—"

I yelled out again as he flipped me over so that I was facing him but my arms were now pinned to my sides, Kakashi's face contorted in rage. He looked at me with a furious expression that did not waver even as tears welled up in my eyes. It scared me.

"Don't you understand?!" he shook me harshly. "You can't go around breaking the damn rules! They're made to keep us safe—to keep you safe! The world can't exist without them!"

Slowly, very slowly the wildness in his eyes started to fade but the meaning left behind in them was unexpected.

His eyes seemed aged like they had seen too many things in life and belonged to the face of someone decades older than him. There was wisdom but there was also a hollow sort of sorrow as if a memory haunted him.

How many nights had this secret nightmare been torturing his all too short existence—mocking and jeering at his self-righteous ways? You could see it in the way he moved—apathetic to the life around him. You could feel it in the way he spoke—careful and calculating.

A jaded, cynical boy.

"A shinobi does not break rules."

He looked back at me expectantly.

"I won't break the rules," I whispered.

* * *

I hadn't seen much of Kakashi after the incident. It was a few days later that I learned he would be going on a special mission with the Hokage and that they would be gone for about a month. There wasn't much more they could teach me and so my training with them would have to come to an end.

Kakashi was cold about the farewell too. He didn't even show up to my mini graduation party with the Hokage before he left. Oh, well. It wasn't like I missed that strict asshole anyway…

"Sayuri!"

As soon as I saw Jiro, I ducked for cover, running into the nearest storage closet and shutting the door.

_Crap, crap,_ I thought. I knew he was looking for me to get the latest update on Hana. But at the moment, I really didn't want to talk to him about her.

After all, I didn't even know what the Itachi-kid's answer was. So even though Jiro asked first, he would just have to wait last. Although I did hear that he recently broke up with his fan club's president...

"Sayuri! Sayuri, where are you?" I heard Jiro call. "Has anyone seen Sayuri?"

The sound of footsteps came closer and I prayed with all my might that he wouldn't find me.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and I fell out in a heap. I yelped, rubbing my knees where I had fallen. This is the end of the line. He'd found me.

"Uh, look Jiro. I know we had this agreement but—"

"What agreement?"

Wait, that didn't sound like Jiro. I glanced up at the person in front of me and recognized a pair of familiar onyx black eyes.

"Uchiha."

"Okishi," he imitated, arching a perfectly shaped brow.

There was another yell in the background that sounded very much like my name as I cringed. The panic must have shown on my face.

"Jiro has been looking for you."

Well, thank you Captain Obvious…

"Yeah, I know…Uh, look. Could you do me a favor?" I asked, getting up and brushing myself off. How the two idiots ended up related I had no idea. "Could you not mention to Jiro that I was here?"

Itachi did another one his let-me-think-about-for-a-while-with-a-completely-straight-face-while-you-wait-in-anxious-anticipation (seriously, what did girls see in this guy?) but slowly nodded his head in consent.

"Thanks! I owe you one!" I waved, sprinting down the hall. Then I remembered that one very important detail.

"If you break her heart, I'm going kill you!" I shouted after him for good measure as he turned the corner.

* * *

I was currently trying to finish up the homework I had skipped over last night in the classroom during our morning break, the pencil in my hand tearing up the paper.

"Sayuri!" Hana beamed happily bouncing over to my desk.

"Yes?" I replied, not bothering to look up.

"He said 'yes'!" she shouted in my ear. "I couldn't believe it when he said it but it's now official. We're dating!"

"Yeah, yeah." I nodded my head, not really surprised. I mean come on; this was Hana we were talking about. She was practically the prettiest girl in class. Itachi would be an idiot to pass her up…which still wouldn't make him smart even if he did decide to go out with her. Itachi was just an idiot through and through.

Hana flounced around in unbridled joy. "And we're going on our first date today after school. We're going to get ice cream, you want to come?"

I finished stabbing the last period in my sentence and then looked up at her skeptically.

"This is your first date. Why would I go?"

"Well…" she said slowly, biting her bottom lip anxiously. "I feel kind of nervous whenever I see him. You should have seen me this morning, it was awful," she groaned. "Every time I try to talk to him, it gets awkward so I was hoping you could be there to lighten the mood."

I rolled my eyes. "You'll be fine. Honestly, you're worried over nothing," I said, patting her hand comfortingly. Because she was only half-right. The _real_ problem would be keeping him interested long enough for him to stay with her…

"If you say so…" She sounded unconvinced.

After school I waved Hana good-bye as she followed Itachi's lead and walked off to the ice cream parlor a few blocks down the street. I was about to go home to the orphanage myself when a black blur hurtled into my view.

"SAYURI!" Jiro cried, grasping my backpack so I couldn't run away.

"What am I going to do?! Akahana's been taken…stolen from me…" he sobbed, the weight of despair buckling his knees as he clutched my legs for support. He clawed at my clothes, willing the horror away. Now I felt really bad...

"OHHH THE PAIN…THE TORTURE! What am I going to do without my sweet, sweet Akahana..." he wailed, the tears mingling with the snot running down his face, the guilt making me pity him.

"Jiro, please stop making a scene. You're embarrassing me."

"I DON'T CARE!"

He continued to cry excessively, staining my shirt. I sighed and massaged my forehead. The headache was definitely coming. I could feel it just bubbling underneath the surface.

It always had to be me, didn't it? The one who ended up consoling the loser of the love war. And here I thought Uchiha's had a lot of pride…

"Look, Jiro. I don't think you and Hana were meant to be together. Besides there are plenty of other pretty girls in our class; why don't you try one of them?"

"NO!" he wailed, standing up suddenly and stamping his foot. "I refuse to accept anyone but her!"

I took a spare handkerchief from my backpack and thrust it into his hand.

"But she's taken. You can't possibly wait for her," I tried again, a little more gently this time.

"Who said anything about waiting?" he sniffed, blowing into the hanky.

Jiro straightened up feeling a bit better and cleared his throat. He gave me a sharp look like the answer to his problem was obvious.

"We have to break them up."

"What?!"

"You and I have a lot of work to do if we're going to do this—"

"I'm not doing anything," I said crossly. As if a pansy like him could make me do anything at all. Who did he think he was messing around in my best friend's love business anyway?

"And you better not do anything to mess this up either."

"Why not?" he said placing his hands on his hips. "All's fair in love and war."

"Well not in this war, _baka*_," I said, flicking his forehead. "Unfortunately for you, Hana's completely ga-ga over this guy and I have a feeling that nothing you or I do is going to stop her from loving him."

"Love?!" Jiro squeaked as if the word pierced him. "She _loves_ him?"

"Judging by the way she practically skips everywhere she goes, I would say yes."

Suddenly the gleam in Jiro's eyes intensified.

"All the more reason to split them apart."

"Are you insane?"

"A little." Jiro admitted. "My mother swears that I got this from my dad's side of the family..."

"I'm not going to help you," I stated again annoyed.

"But aren't you curious? Don't you want to find out what they're up to?"

I had to admit, yeah, of course I was curious. This _was_ Hana's first boyfriend after all, and I never had one to begin with so I was definitely curious—but not curious enough to breach upon our friendship. I didn't think Hana would appreciate me spying on her.

"Hell no."

* * *

For the next couple of days, I didn't see head nor tail of Jiro which I was very thankful for—I could go without his whining. But it also made me nervous having him out of sight for so long especially after his tantrum. It made me suspicious.

"Sayuri!" Hana waved from where she stood with Itachi. They were walking together into the school, Itachi looking disinterested in his surroundings as usual.

"Yo."

"Oshiki," Itachi nodded before giving Hana a significant look and walking ahead of us into class.

"Well, aren't we the blushing bride?" I teased Hana after he left.

She turned a fitting shade of red but grinned. "Well, I don't know…it just feels nice to be by his side. We don't do much…I mean, we haven't kissed yet so…"

I was impressed. He hadn't made a single move on her even with his reputation of changing girlfriends every few weeks or so. Although going out didn't always imply the feelings of two willing participants were mutual.

His fan club was certainly not pleased. The pig-tailed girl cried nearly everyday in class and at one point the sensei was so lost as to what to do with her he sent her to the infirmary to get her heart checked out. (Cheesy, I know.)

I watched as a few of the girls glared at Hana from behind but I made sure to give them the ol' stank eye back.

Today, I had clean-up duty so I had to stay behind to help sweep the floors and wipe down the windows and chalkboard.

I was clapping the chalk dust off the erasers from an open window when I thought I heard someone opening the door. I turned around to see who it was but saw nothing.

_Strange_, I thought.

Thinking nothing of it I returned to my work, watching the white smoke plume from the erasers…

"So have you swept the floor?" A warm breath on my ear asked.

I shrieked in surprise and fell back against the window, only to be caught on my sleeve by none other than Itachi.

"You should be more careful. You could've fallen out the window," he stated coolly, letting go.

"I wouldn't have if you hadn't sneaked up on me!"

My heart was beating so fast…

"Have you swept?" he asked again, walking next to a broom. "I have cleaning duties today too."

"No, I haven't." I breathed, trying to calm down. Then I remembered something. "Wait, where's Hana?" I asked looking at the door as if expecting her to walk in at any moment.

"I told her to go home without me." He stated, starting his chores.

I was pretty sure Hana would have waited if he had asked. It was a pity she left; she could have helped us out too.

For the next twenty minutes the two of us were quiet, doing out individual chores. By the time I did my share, Itachi had just finished mopping up the floor. The only thing left was to change the water for the fish bowl.

"Here, let me help," I offered. That bowl wasn't exactly light.

"No, I got it—"

As soon as those words left his mouth, the left heel of my sandals slid on a particularly wet tile. And from that said wet tile, my feet slid across the next few feet and ran right into Itachi, fish tank and occupant fishes both flying up in the air.

There was loud crash as the glass bowl shattered, the little goldfish flopping helplessly on the thin pools of water. I was wet, drenched from the tank water as was Itachi. But that wasn't the main problem I was worried about.

You see, the main problem was the position we were in—him and I. I was laying on my back, facing up and well, Itachi landed right on top of me. It would have been a very compromising position if anyone happened to see it…

I heard a small click.

…and took a picture of it.

Itachi immediately got up, his hair and clothes sticking to him from the water. I, on the other hand was too busy goggling at the person to get off the wet floor.

"JIRO!"

He had the widest, most smug expression on his face, the camera in his hand begging to be smashed into a million pieces.

"Sorry, did I interrupt?"

"You little punk! Hand that over right now!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. God, I didn't want to know what happened if anyone saw that picture…or if Hana saw it!

"Only if you help me break Hana up with Itachi!"

"GIVE ME THE PICTURE!"

"SHUT UP!" Jiro shouted back just as loudly, a wild gleam in his eyes. "You don't know what it's like! Always being compared; always having your parents wish that you were more like him!" he yelled, pointing wildly at Itachi.

"They almost disowned me! Did he tell you that?! I ALMOST GOT DISOWNED BECAUSE OF HIM! BECAUSE MY SCORES WERE RANKED LOWER THAN HIS!" Jiro continued to scream, his eyes almost popping out from the force. "I've already lost my pride and my worth to my family. I'm not goint to lose Akahana too!"

Suddenly Itachi was upon him, running towards him with a determined expression. But Jiro was one step ahead—and this time he was ready.

Jiro threw down a smoke bomb—plumes of gray clouding the classroom. I coughed loudly and got up from the wet floor.

_Shit, shit, shit!_ I thought.

Soon the smoke cleared and there was nobody but Itachi standing by the doorway where Jiro once stood.

"He's gone." Itachi said tightly but I didn't think it was because of the picture…

"We need to get that camera back. We _have_ to delete that picture," I said in a shaky voice. I did not want to think about what Hana would say if she saw those pictures spread all over the school…

"Ah! Oh no, the poor little fish!" I cried, remembering that they were still flopping about on the floor.

Itachi said nothing as he left the classroom. He came back with a bucket filled with water and gently put the squirming fish into the bucket where they could swim again.

Then he straightened up. "Frankly, I don't care what happens to that picture. I'm more worried about you."

I looked at him very wet and very confused.

"Jiro revealed information about the clan that he wasn't supposed to. He could get into a lot of trouble for that," Itachi said in a dark tone.

"I managed to get him out of trouble last time but I don't know if I can do it again. He really could get disowned this time if you tell anyone."

I felt slightly offended.

"I'm not that low. I won't tell anyone about it if it's going to get him kicked out of the house. I already know what that feels like," I said in a bitter tone.

He stood there for a while staring at me. It was uncomfortable, his penetrating stare piercing right through me like an x-ray. Finally he turned towards the door, hair and clothes still wet from the water.

"Good." Itachi finished. "Then I'll take my leave."

The dark-haired boy left satisfied, leaving me to ponder my fate in Jiro's wrath.

* * *

**Author's note**: Hmmm, hopefully people aren't getting bored with this story because I still haven't gotten a single review...

Perhaps the OC is boring? Maybe the plot doesn't seem to have a purpose? Tell me what you guys think. Thanks.


	7. Blackmail

Chapter Seven: Blackmail

* * *

I dreaded going to school, wondering if I should play hooky and skip for today. My stomach twisted and churned in agony. I really didn't want to have to explain myself if the picture ever got out…

Taking the first step into school was nerve-wracking. I felt as if a millions pair of eyes were on me but no one in particular was really looking in my direction…well, a few did because I was stalking around like an idiot, trying to avoid groups of people but still…

Eventually I got to class and pretended to be busy finishing up an assignment. Jiro was already there and I made certain to burn third degree marks into the back of his head with my eyes; that is until I saw Hana's blonde hair move from the corner of my eye.

"Hey, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" she said happily.

I tried to curb my surprise. I thought she would have found out by now.

"Oh…hey. Uh, what's been going on?"

"Nothin' much actually…" she said disappointment coloring her tone. "I really thought we would get somewhere by now but he won't even let me hold his hand…" she said with a pout.

"But anyways, what's been going on with you?"

"Oh, you know. Same ol'. Same ol'." I laughed nervously.

_So maybe she hadn't found out. That's good,_ I told myself.

Hana gave me a funny look but let me off the hook and plowed on about her amazing day.

It wasn't until we were done training out in the fields that Jiro finally decided to approach me. He walked with a slow, lazy gait like a smug poker player coming to collect his prize.

"Jiro! You bastard! I have a bone to pick with you!"

He threw up his hands in defense. "Hey I'm the one with the picture remember?"

Jiro glanced down at my curled fists in unease.

"You hit me and I_ am_ going to spread that picture!"

I swung but my fist froze an inch from his nose, the force causing his front bangs to flutter as he flinched.

I glared. "Don't test me!"

"Well, then maybe you should cool down…"The seedy boy suggested, regaining composure assured that I wouldn't beat him to death for the moment.

"Look, I promise I won't show anyone if you just do as I say, got it?"

I paused warily.

Option A: I could still punch Jiro and the feel the overall satisfaction of having his face become permanently concaved but still not know where that picture is and risk getting exposed or Option B: I could spare Jiro a very deserving ass-whooping and possibly listen to what he has to say and never mention that picture again.

Weighing the options, I opted for the lack of my better judgment the latter of the two.

"What exactly do you want from me?"

"Your body."

My hand came flying and smacked Jiro straight across the face.

"I meant that I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend!" The coward yelped caressing his burning left cheek.

"I need you so I can get close to them. You'll be 'unfaithful girlfriend' who tries to seduce Itachi so Akahana will get jealous. She'll be heartbroken but I'll be there to comfort her and then she'll realize her true feelings for me. She'll toss Itachi like yesterday's rotten leftovers and realize that I'm the one for her!" He explained in a rush.

He was a lost cause, this one.

"And if I don't agree to play the part?" I hissed menacingly.

Jiro rubbed his swollen cheek and looked at me rather ruefully.

"You do realize that when I release that picture, everyone's going to think you're a slut and Akahana will never talk to you again."

My fist clenched tightly in anger. This was a low blow; even for a dumbass with major parental issues. And if Itachi and I both denied it, a picture like that would do major damage…Hana would be so hurt.

I couldn't risk anyone finding out…she would hate me forever.

"Fine, I'll do it. I'll pretend to be your girlfriend."

There was something very degrading in agreeing to the jerk's terms but at the moment, my hands were tied. There was really nothing I could do but agree.

I wanted to pity him for his life's misfortune. Constantly being compared to a super genius sounded rough—even if I didn't exactly knew what it felt like. But still I realized that I hated Jiro at that very moment—the very moment his face glowed into a victorious grin.

* * *

Jiro was going to die. He was going to die a very slow and painful death.

_I'm going to stick a pike through his body_ I thought visciously. _And then I'm going to slice open his stomach, yank out his innards, and string them through Konoha like Christmas lights._

Jiro and I (the thought of actually chopping my hand off at the moment was extremely tempting) were holding hands as we walked into class.

Hana's eyes grew as large as dinner plates, freezing at her desk as her wide eyes zeroed in on our locked fingers.

Itachi on the other hand, showed only the mildest of interest.

"Alright, class," sensei said. "Settle down. Today we'll be continuing our discussion on _kekkei genkai_*. These are special bloodline limits inherited through obviously the blood and genes. They usually run through clans and each one have their own specific kind—"

"Pssst!" Hana nudged me on my left. "What the heck are you doing with Jiro? Are you insane?!"

"Uhm…we're kind of going out…?" I replied meekly.

Hana had to slap a hand on her mouth to keep from screaming. "_I didn't even know you liked him!_" she hissed conspiratorially.

"_I don't!_" I whispered back just as venomously.

There was a rustling sound behind me and a discrete cough. I took a peek over my shoulder and saw Itachi resting his head on hands and eyes closed.

Jiro smirked as he reached over and placed his hand over mine.

Yes. Jiro was going to die.

"You ready?" Jiro whispered.

I cringed, his breath next to my ear. "As ready as I'll ever be…"

"_Go_!"

"Hey, Hana!" I flagged her down outside of the gateway to the academy, students laughing and chatting as they left.

There was a lone dark finger following Hana slowly from behind; a dark cloud trailing after the bright sun—really, what did everyone see in Mr. Doom-and-Gloom?

"Oh, hey Sayuri! Jiro!"

I noticed the little shiver of excitement Jiro gave when she called his name.

"Hey guys, there's an autumn festival going on this weekend and Jiro and I were wondering if you and Itachi would like to double date with us?" My smile couldn't possibly get wider.

Hana gazed up at Itachi. "I'm game if you are," she said brightly.

Itachi mulled it over while looking at me and Jiro. I wonder if he could see the sweat on my brow or the way my lips stretched acroos my teeth uncomfortably. He shrugged.

"Sure, whatever."

"Yay!" Hana cheered. "Oh my gosh, this is going to be great! We are going to have so much fun!"

I laughed weakly. "Ha, ha. Yeah, fun…"

* * *

There I was in my borrowed little kimono of dark blue with a few faded gold flowers patterns walking down the street in the fadin light of day.

I was just hoping no one could see the little holes in the sleeves—it was a used hand-me-down after all which the orphanage lent to me from one of their moldy closets.

The night was cool and a light breeze blew up the loose strands of my pinned up hair. As I reached our proposed meeting place, I noticed Jiro was already there. I have to say, Jiro could clean himself up well in his custom-made, light yellow kimono with dark blue pin stripes. He even fixed his hair so that it wasn't all in his face, but was brushed back neatly. If only he wasn't such a jerk…

We waited for another minute or two for Hana and Itachi to show up by a lighted lamp post in the street and I imagined Hana in fabulous garb prepared specially for Itachi.

Finally, we heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

Hana looked gorgeous, as predicted—an indescribable glow floating about her in her pastel pink kimono that went well with her strawberry blonde locks. I saw Jiro's jaw drop in the corner of my eye.

Itachi looked just as handsome and sharp in his deep burgundy red kimono which came off with a very charismatic feeling. I guess I never noticed until now as I got a better look but that even for his age, Itachi was quite tall amongst our peers.

"Hana, you look beautiful!" I complimented. She blushed prettily and told me that I looked great too.

Our group headed off towards the festival, the cheery noise of chattering people, thrumming of music and glowing lights creating an infectiously good mood. I had only been to one festival in my life and that was back at my home village. It wasn't a very big festival either; it was more like a house party at one of the villagers place.

But this was so much better. It had a pleasing atmosphere and I couldn't wait to get free samples from the food stalls.

"Hey, look! Itachi's parents are here too."

My eyes turned in search of the famous family but I didn't have to look far.

There they were, the Uchiha clan, all congregated in one area. They stood amongst themselves, seeming proud and elite with a dark aura that I couldn't help but notice sort of brought down the high spirit of festivities. But I suppose like Itachi, seriousness ran in the family.

The three of us watched as Itachi gave a nod of acknowledgement to his parents. His father was handsome but looked stern and his mother beautiful and soft, a trait I reasoned was common among the clan. But his little brother was a different story entirely. He was like a ball of sunshine, his face lighting up at all the wonder around him, something that only young children could express through their eyes.

The small boy smiled a toothy grin and waved excitedly at his older brother. Itachi let a small smile form on his face before it suddenly disappeared. It went unnoticed by Jiro and Hana.

"Hey, let's try out that stall!" Hana pulled me enthusiastically to the fishing game area.

It was a game where you had to catch fish with a thin, flat paper scooper and a porcelain bowl. But it had to be done quickly and with certain skill, otherwise the paper scooper would burst and the goldfish would fall out and you would lose the game.

We all gathered around the long open tank of water on the ground, watching as the little goldfish swam vigorously by. A friendly looking man walked up to us.

"Hi, kids. Would you like to play? It's only 100 ryo*. What do ya say?"

"I'm not very good at this…" Hana trailed off.

"Me neither," Jiro agreed immediately.

"I wish I could play…" I pouted. But I didn't have a ryo to spare…

"I'll play," Itachi finally said, handing the man a few coins.

The long-haired boy took the little scooper and bowl and observed the fish swimming around the tank. Then he carefully flung a goldfish in the air…

"He got it!" the stall manager yelled in surprise.

The manager took a bell and rang it in the air while hollering, "WE HAVE A WINNER, FOLKS! COME AND WIN A GOLDFISH LIKE THIS YOUNG BOY HERE! COME WIN ONE FOR YOUR LOVED ONES, FOLKS!"

I watched in awe as the man handed the small fish in a water-filled plastic bag to Itachi.

Man, and I really wanted one too…

"Here." Itachi shoved the bag into my hands.

"Wha—?"

"I'm not very good with pets, but if I remember correctly you really seemed to care about fish—even the ones in our classroom." He explained, shrugging a little. "I think you would make a better owner than I would."

"You're really giving this to me?"

He nodded.

My grin almost split the sides of my face. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I bounced happily.

It was tactless and I should have insisted on giving the fish back to him but I was too happy at the moment to notice Hana eyeing the goldfish in my hands or the fact that Jiro looked at her expression in secret glee.

We went to a few other game stalls. Jiro tried winning a large stuffed bear for Hana but failed miserably. I tried not to laugh when he threw the ball and smacked a big, burly man in the face. We had to run away after that.

I took a peek at what Hana and Itachi were doing and sometimes I would see Hana trying to hold his hand. But for some strange reason Itachi's hands always seemed to be just out of reach, either hidden within the folds of his sleeves or holding some food and other prizes.

The rest of the night was spent eating a bunch of _dango_* and watching the finale fireworks. It was breathtaking to see the sky light up in furious swirls of bright color.

I took a closer look at the fish in the bag and watched the spectrum of colors bounce off the water in the clear plastic bag. Sometimes I felt I understood colors better than I did people or more like the relationships between them.

It was as I was standing there beside Itachi, holding the fish and watching him that I realized Itachi wasn't such a bad guy after all.

* * *

**Author's note**: Sorry to leave you guys hanging like that! Wow, I have not updated for about two months now mostly due to classes and my club activities. It's been really hectic for me so I'm sorry if I made any of you wait forever... Thanks for being so patient! But I think another part of it was that everytime I read these chapters, I wasn't really satisfied with it so I kept rearranging things and editing like crazy so hopefully you all like it.

Special thanks to **KakashiKrazed** (It's really great to hear about your take on the character! I'm really glad to see that you picked up on the little things that I laid out there, I was careful to portray Itachi and Kakashi relative to how they were in their childhood days. Thanks a bunch for being my first reviewer! It made me relieved to hear from at least one person. :)

Also special thanks to **Kairi-senpai** (Thanks for letting me know about the double chapter! I didn't even realize until you said something. Tee hee. :)

And to encourage people to write reviews I think I'm going to start asking you guys questions about your opinions on anything relating to this fanfiction or fiction in general.

Question:Do you like having OC's (Original Characters) in the Naruto universe? Why or why not?

Thanks for reading.

-Scripsisomnia

Japanese to English translations:

Ryo--(personal definition based on interet searches...) currency used in the Naruto-verse

Dango--a Japanese dumpling made of sweet rice flour; a Japanese confectionery usually served with green tea


	8. Rest in Peace

Chapter Eight: Rest in Peace

* * *

Leaves fell in a flurry of color of red, brown, orange and purple. I wandered the streets of Konoha on a cool Sunday and smiled at the bright blue sky above me.

My new pet goldfish which I decided to name 'Cheeks' because of his,well, big puffy cheeks, was back at home probably swimming around happily in its new fish bowl.

I needed to pay Itachi back for his sudden kindness.

As I was walking, contemplating what to give to Itachi, I noticed a familiar head of shimmering blonde.

"Oi, Hana!" I called.

The fair-skinned girl turned but didn't seem please to see me. Her mouth was set in a hard frown and her forehead darkened by her deep scowl.

This was one of those moods where nothing could make her happy; not even the words of a friend. She would think about something that bothered her and eventually it would eat her up throughout the day—with unpleasant results.

"Hi," she said stiffly, crossing her arms in front of her.

I frowned. "What's up? Did something happen?" I asked out of concern. She stared at me for a few moments in silent disbelief.

"I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Why would he give the fish to you?"

By 'he', I'm sure she meant Itachi.

"Because I really like fish?"

"But he could've given it to me." Her face turned sour. "It could've been our fish…" She trailed off.

Hana gazed up at me with a stricken face, her tone suddenly pleading.

"Give me the fish, Sayuri. I'll take care of it. It's not like you can afford to keep the thing anyway."

The tension rolled off her shoulders in waves—resentful and bitter.

My frown grew bigger. "Well, I might not have enough money to buy him proper fish food now but I can borrow some from school and I'll get an allowance from the orphanage soon…"

"It'll be too late by then. You might kill it," Hana tried to reason, her voice now strained. "Just let me take care of the fish. I can buy it fish food today and everything...and maybe you can even come visit once in a while…"

"Well…"

"WHY ARE YOU BEING SO DIFFICULT?"

I flinched at her loud voice. Hana's face twisted unnaturally in frustration and misplaced anger—her temper flaring in a way that I had never seen before.

"I—"

"Just hand me the damn fish, Sayuri! What's so hard about that?"

"You don't have to yell!" I shouted back, stung by her heated attitude.

What the hell did I do? It's not like I begged for the damn fish. _He_ gave it to me.

"Ugh! Nevermind!" Hana stalked off, her long blonde hair whipping behind her.

"Wait, Hana!" I called after her but when I tried to catch up, she sprinted away and disappeared around the street corner.

I immediately regretted what I had said.

_Put yourself in her shoes…_ I thought.

Trying so hard every day to get a single response out of Itachi was difficult and for all her effort he never gave her so much as a passing glance. And although she was patient enough to not ask anything in return, the fact that he had given something to me was enough to push her over the edge...

I was being thoughtless. Inconsiderate. Selfish.

But the way she acted still saddened me deeply.

So this was the value of our friendship—crumbling over the weight of a petty fish.

When I went home that night, my chest felt burdened, tightened and congested like something was caught in my throat.

I tried hard not to let anyone see me cry.

* * *

Jealousy was a terrible thing in the game of love. It planted seeds straight in your heart and grew thick as weeds, choking every rational thought.

The next few days were awkward between me and Hana. I expected her to avoid me and avoid me she did. She dodged me every chance she got, going as far as to run off with some other girls and leaving me without a moment's hesitation. Our eyes never met.

Thinking it was the fish, I tried giving it to her after school one day but it ended in tragedy…for Cheeks.

"Here, take it. I'm sorry about the other day. I didn't mean to tell you off like that. You had every right to be mad." I held the plastic bag up to her, the goldfish floating in the water serenely.

Hana took the bag from me glancing at it coldly.

Then she slammed the bag onto the ground. The bag burst and little Cheeks never moved again.

"What did you do?!"

"I don't want your pity! I don't want _you_ to give it to me. I want Itachi!"

I shoved her into the brick wall.

"You idiot! You took its life over your goddamn jealousy!"

I never spoke to her after that.

What more could I do but give her some space? A small part of me refused to believe that we weren't friends. I didn't want to think that a fight over a fish's life meant more than our friendship.

Even if it was unfair for Cheeks…

She was after all my _only_ friend. Kakashi didn't count; he was still my sensei. And Itachi could never be a friend as long as Hana was around…

She'd get over our fight eventually…I think.

Meanwhile the roof was the perfect place to get away from everything.

Lunch consisted of lying out and watching the lazy white clouds swirl by. The can of cold soda in my hand comforted me.

"I didn't know you ate lunch here." A velvety voice spoke behind me.

I twisted my neck to the side and saw Itachi standing there with his bento in hand.

"It's been happening recently." I admitted. "Nothing's been going right these days."

"I can see that."

Itachi looked over past the chain-link fence surrounding the edges of the roof. He watched a group of girls sitting with Hana out on the lawn as they laughed and gossiped together.

"Shouldn't you be down there too?" He asked with a raised brow.

"I wasn't invited," I said bluntly.

It was true. I did try one time but as soon as Hana turned away from me so did the rest of the group.

It couldn't be helped I guess. I _was_ the youngest of the girls in the class and none of the cooler, older kids would want to be seen associating with the youngest kid in school apart from Itachi that is. It was just uncool. Or so my troubled mind reasoned…

"Besides I like the roof better."

Itachi let a rare but transient smile touch his lips. "Me too," he agreed.

He sat down and we ate our lunch in silence. Not the awkward kind of silence but the good kind where you didn't have to feel like you had to fill it with mindless chatter.

Afterwards the two of us lay back to stare up at the bright blue sky.

"Well then what's your excuse?" I asked looking over at him. "Why aren't you with Hana?"

"If I told you, you'd probably punch me." Itachi smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just know that I don't usually like to be told what to do."

He closed his eyes.

I shrugged.

* * *

"It's not working."

I watched as Jiro paced around the empty classroom.

_Stomp. Stomp. Stomp._

"_Why_ is it not working?"

I could just see the gears turning in his head trying to look for a solution. The day 'we got together'; the day we went to the festival; my missions to 'seduce' Itachi…

He stopped suddenly and glowered. "You're not doing something right."

"I'm doing everything I can…" I lied.

"Look I'll try to figure something out, okay? Don't worry about it; just hold onto the photo and you'll get your chance with Hana." I laughed uneasily as I slipped out the door, hoping he wouldn't say anything else.

"See ya."

Jiro watched me go with a calculating stare.

Sometimes I wondered why I always caved to people's wishes. Whether they needed me to wash fifty dishes at the orphanage or they asked me to clean up the classrooms after school, somehow, someway I could never really have the heart to say no.

Well, this time I obviously said no and it still came back to bite me in the ass into saying 'yes'. And the blackmailing wasn't very helpful either… Growing a backbone would be the first on my list after this was over.

But more than that I think I simply pitied Jiro.

Although he never liked to admit it, he always tried to be the best at everything. Always eager to please but never quite liked for his earnestness.

In the end, it would be me who would be blamed. Whether that picture was going to be plastered on every wall in school or whether Hana gets the idea that I'm trying to steal her boyfriend—as if I would go through with that.

There was however one thing I hoped that he didn't realize; something I knew was coming for me; predestined to go along the road of failure for letting others control me.

That I was going to lose very badly both ways.

The first sign of snow came one gray cold morning when little flakes of white filtered down. By the third day, there were large blankets of it covering all of Konoha in thick white sheets of ice.

It was winter break and I was heading over to a little food stall called Ichiraku where they apparently served the best ramen. I had saved up enough to go and treat myself for the holidays.

It was close to Christmas after all and we orphans weren't going to get any presents except maybe newly knitted mittens.

The stall was a quaint one with a friendly glowing atmosphere to shelter me from the chilling cold. The wind gave another howl and nipped the tips of my ears.

I ducked under the curtain and sat down on a bar stool in front of the cooking area when my eyes caught a familiar white coat and red insignia.

"Hokage-sama!" I plopped down next to him with a grin on my face. He had an empty bowl of ramen in front of him.

"Sayuri." He nodded in acknowledgment in my direction with a rather weak smile than the one I was used to. "How's school?"

"It's great! I'm learning so much even though I don't think I'll be able to graduate for another couple years. But that's okay. We all graduate when we're ready, right?" I grinned cheerfully.

The Ichiraku chef came over to where I sat. "And what will you have, little miss?"

"I'd like the shoyu* ramen please."

"Coming right up," he said walking away to prepare the meal.

We sat and talked about random things while I slurped up the ramen noodles.

"Mmmh, this so good!" The Ichiraku owner beamed and even gave me an extra helping of noodles.

The Hokage chuckled. "You obviously don't know that Ichiraku is famous throughout Fire Country for his ramen."

I gulped down another mouthful of soup. "Well, now that I do, I'm coming back every chance I get."

The prickly-headed leader patted my head acting like a proud parent rewarding his child. Then tapped his chin in thought as I finished up the last of the noodles.

"I was wondering, Sayuri. Are you busy today?"

"No, not today. Why?" I asked reaching for my wallet.

The Hokage stopped me from pulling out the money.

"No, no. If you can complete this task I'm about to give you, then I'll pay for this meal and all the ones you will ever have at Ichiraku."

"Free ramen everyday? I'm game!" I jumped out of my seat. "Name it."

"I need you to keep an eye on Kakashi for me. He hasn't been doing well since we got back from our mission, you see… He's been having a hard time after the loss of one his former close friends and teammate...one of my very own students." The Hokage gave a sad smile.

His expression was something akin to one pained by the memories of something he could not control. It was like he was telling himself that it wasn't his fault but a big part of him didn't believe it.

"I messed up as his sensei. Perhaps I gave him too much responsibility for a beginning jounin and I'm to blame. I put this all on his shoulders…I should have been there…"

The deep regret hidden within his voice was painful to hear, especially from the constant happy-go-lucky leader. He seemed washed out and tired; from the slight redness in his eyes to the dull luster of his hair.

I could imagine what it was like.

His whole being was mourning the death of a beloved student and the broken spirit of his beloved team.

The memory of my grandparents death came back to punch me in the guts. I swallowed hard.

The man sighed, his eyes glazed over, wandering in a different world filled with different choices.

"I've already tried talking to him but he won't listen to me. And he's been avoiding me ever since. He won't even talk to his friends and refuses to see Rin, his other teammate. She worries about him constantly; she hardly takes care of herself she's so worried about him. All Kakashi ever does now is grieve and drown himself in work. And with all this Hokage work piling up in front of me, I haven't had a chance to properly chase him down."

The Yellow Flash looked towards me expectantly. "So I hoped that maybe you could try since you're one of the few people who have actually gotten to know him outside of his missions, Sayuri."

I started. "But he wouldn't listen to me—"

"Kakashi is a very private person. And the few people who he has let into his life have already tried their hand to help him. He won't listen to his friends but maybe, just maybe he'll listen to you.

"You see, Kakashi needs someone right now who doesn't know the full story of that tragic mission. If one of his close friends who already knew the story tries to comfort him, he'll believe that they will be completing the part of a friend and telling him that it wasn't his fault.

"They'll say that Kakashi did all that he could and more in trying to protect and lead his team. But being the martyr that he is…" the Hokage added dryly. "…he refuses to let anyone share the burden of his pain.

"As his comrades, we feel powerless watching him suffer alone. But perhaps if he heard it from another, an 'outside' source, maybe he will realize that what his friends are trying to tell him has been true all along and he'll understand that he really is a great person."

He looked at me and waited as I processed this large bit of information. So I was now the 'outside' source was I?

I thought about it and it was true, I hardly knew anything about his personal life other than his name and what he looked like.

He was…a mystery.

"I'll try, Hokage-sama. I promise. I'll do my best to bring the old Kakashi back."

Again being the fool I was I couldn't say 'no'. Backbone any day now…

He smiled a real smile this time and petted my head again.

"I'm counting on you."

* * *

Just like the Hokage said Kakashi was standing in front of a gravestone; a memorial site for ninja killed in battle.

It was a handsome slab of stone, inky black in color and polished to perfection. There were so many names inscribed on it.

Kakashi was wearing a scarf crouched before the memorial, holding out an umbrella to keep the snow from falling onto the memorial rather than keep it off himself. He was lost in thought, his eyes as lifeless as the stone.

My boots crunched against the ice as I neared him.

"Kakashi," I called out softly, afraid to break his listless attention.

He seemed so worn and frayed somehow compared to when I had last seen him. Maybe it was in the way he carried his shoulders, hunched forward like he was wounded in the chest or the hollow in his cheeks, tell signs that he wasn't eating.

Kakashi didn't even look at me but managed to give a small nod, his head and shoulders littered in white.

I stepped closer and bent down next to him.

"What are you doing out here?"

He closed his eyes. A chilly wind blew by.

"Thinking."

"About what?"

He reached out an arm and brushed off a layer of snow from the top of the stone.

"Why he had to be the one to die…"

"Your friend Obito?"

He hesitated.

"Yes."

I tried to choose my words carefully, thinking of some complex over-played analogy to try and comfort him with but it all ended in horrible insensitivity so I shot for something simple.

"Because he wanted you to live."

His hand stopped on top of the memorial and I moved to place my hand over his.

Even with the gloves on, his fingers were so cold compared to my warm ones.

"Because he didn't want you to have to be the one to die."

Kakashi slipped his hand away from mine.

"Then Obito's a fool."

"A fool who cared about the lives of his friends."

"Why are you here?" he asked suddenly rounding on me. He stood up and it was then that I got a proper look at his face.

His right eye was wrapped in bandages almost covering the majority of his head and I wondered what happened to it. The Hokage hadn't mentioned any injuries involved with the tragic mission. But his left eye was narrowed in anger.

"Did sensei put you up to this?"

"Not exactly..."

At first it was something the Hokage made me do. But I realized in the end it was something I _wanted_ to do too. Who would let this idiot go on like this forever? It was absurd. He needed to move on. Just like his friends, even this Obito person, had intended him to.

He gave a short dry laugh. "He keeps trying to throw people my way thinking it'll help…it's only making it worse."

"Not if you actually let someone help you," I countered.

Didn't he realize that his suffering was becoming everyone else's suffering? That his sensei and his teammate were just as hurt and tired as he was? That every time they looked at him, they only saw their own failure reflected in his soulless eyes.

"I don't need help. I'm fine on my own. Why can't sensei understand that?"

"But you're not."

I raised my voice, his denial suddenly sparking indignation. "Look at you! You hardly eat. You look like you've been walking around in the same pair of clothes for the past week. Your eye's bloodshot so I know you haven't been sleeping properly—"

He immediately started to walk away.

"I don't have to listen to this shit."

Kakashi was angry too. It was clear from the stamping of his walk to the stiffness of his shoulders. I was just doing everything wrong nowadays, wasn't I? But I didn't care if he was mad; I just wanted him to listen.

I ran after him and clung to his dark navy blue sweater.

"I'm not done yet."

He flung my hand away.

"Yes, you are."

Kakashi drew his fingers into a sign and with a loud pop and clouds of wispy smoke disappeared.

* * *

He was an elusive one that was for sure.

There were two things I found myself spending my days doing: helping out the headmistress with the Christmas decorations around the orphanage or running around all of Konoha looking for Kakashi.

Sometimes I would catch him again at the gravesite and other times I would catch glimpses of him in the streets—one minute he would be there and the next he would be gone. It was aggravating, especially for a young ninja like me who knew nothing about tracking.

Most of the time, I hung out at the memorial, even when it was cold, waiting and just hoping he'd come around.

One time, I must've fell asleep while waiting for him to show because I found a thick woolen blanket wrapped around me by the time I woke up. So I guess I can't say he was a complete jerk if he did that, but still…I wished he would stop running away.

And of course, today was Christmas Eve and where I was spending it?

Out by the memorial.

There was movement next to me and I heard the crunch in the mounds of ice as it caved under someone's foot.

I looked up to see none other than Itachi, layered in a thick coat with a high collar that shielded the lower half of his face from the wind.

"How long do you plan on sitting out here?"

"As long as it takes for Kakashi to listen to me."

"The guy's pretty stubborn."

"Well so am I."

Little clouds floated up as his warm breath hit the cold air when he sighed. I heard him walk away.

A few minutes later a cup of hot chocolate was shoved under my nose.

"Here," he said. "Hana, would kill me if I let you catch a cold."

_Yeah, right. She'd be leaping in joy now_, I thought bitterly.

I took the cup, grateful and took a sip letting the scalding liquid hit the back of my tongue. Nothing like warm chocolate to make you feel better.

Itachi crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Where's Jiro? I thought he was supposed to be your boyfriend."

I resisted the urge to laugh at the silliness of it all.

"He's on vacation with his family for the break. What about Hana? I haven't heard from her in a while. Where'd she go?"

Itachi stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Same. She's on vacation to see her relatives out in the country. She seemed pretty upset when she left."

I looked at him incredulously.

"She probably wanted to spend Christmas with you."

Itachi continued to look out across the woods and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. I shook my head. Hana certainly had her work cut out for her.

"How's the fish?"

I flinched as if he had physically hurled something at me. "Doing just fine," I lied with a smile.

Itachi probed my reaction carefully but I couldn't tell if he believed me or not.

He then kicked some of the snow around and sat next to me.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, realizing what he was doing. "You don't have to wait with me. I'll be alright by myself. You've already done enough so..."

He leaned back on the memorial and closed his eyes. "Shut up, I'm staying."

A small smile formed on my face. He was such a grump.

It was as I was contemplating if I should leave for the day for Itachi's sake that I heard a dull thud in front of me. Kakashi finally decided to show.

"Kakashi!" I jumped up, happy to see him. Itachi shifted awake and eyed the other ninja warily.

"I was going to wait until you gave up and left but he—" Kakashi pointed to Itachi accusingly, "—stayed with you so I knew you weren't going to leave for another couple hours." He shook the snow off himself. "I was freezing my ass off up in that tree."

Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"You were going to let her wait for you out in the cold for this long? Why didn't you tell her to go home?"

Kakashi glared back at him.

"Because she wouldn't listen to me even if I did tell her. She can choose to freeze or not—it's not my problem."

Itachi snorted. He looked at Kakashi in disdain.

"I see. So the so called rookie-of-the-year the teachers were telling me about last year was you."

He gave a mocking chuckle.

"Guess White Fang's son can't live up to his father's reputation after all."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Don't talk about my father—!"

"Stop!" I cried, pushing my way in between them. Lucky me, I got to deal with two equally stubborn and annoying prodigies.

Kakashi breathed heavily, a dull flush visible in his rage. Itachi smirked behind me in triumph.

"Itachi, I think you've said enough. He's not in any mood for this."

Suddenly Kakashi fell forward, his right shoulder hitting mine as his weight dropped on me.

"Woah!"

I tried to catch him but got pushed back instead.

"Kakashi, are you alright?" I asked worriedly. His breath came out faster than normal as if he had run a long marathon, sweat shone in a thin sheet across his forehead and I noticed the flush on his face getting redder.

"You have a fever." I said aloud in panic. "You idiot! You were sick and you were waiting outside for me to go in?"

Sometimes I swore I just wanted to strangle this boy. I turned to Itachi pleadingly.

"Can you give me a hand? He's kind of heavy."

I thought I heard Itachi curse under his breath before leaning over and grabbing Kakashi's other side. With Kakashi's arms around our necks, we managed to half-walk, half-drag the delirious boy back to his apartment.

It seemed forever but we managed to make it to the front of his door. Kakashi's head lolled and his hot breath blew against the side of my neck. I thought I heard Itachi growl over on the other side.

"Where are your keys?" I asked the feverish boy. Kakashi looked like he didn't have a clue as to where he was.

"Inmb…mie…p-pahket…" Kakashi mumbled incoherently.

My hand dove into his ninja pack and drew a ringlet of keys. I managed to open the door on the third try.

It was the first time I ever entered Kakashi's house.

The apartment was small, baring only the necessary furnishings and minimal rooms. There was a decent size bedroom, a bathroom, a cramped kitchen and a small living room with an old moth-eaten sofa.

Kakashi didn't have much else except a table and two chairs. Everything was very bare but his things made up for it; pieces of clothing, kunai weapons and books thrown about here and there. And certainly not one spark of holiday cheer.

Itachi and I pulled him into his small bed, covering him with the comforter.

I put the back of my palm against his forehead and frowned. Taking some ice out of the fridge, I tried cooling his fever down and looked at Itachi worriedly.

"He's really burning up. What should we do?"

Itachi looked down on the silver-haired boy with an expressionless.

"Just let him sweat it out."

Kakashi groaned.

"Maybe we should get him medicine?"

Itachi shrugged. He clearly didn't care if the guy lived or died.

I nudged Kakashi gently. "Kakashi, you got any fever medicine?"

He shook his head slowly.

Taking a towel I wiped the sweat off his brow.

I sighed. "We can't leave him like this. Itachi, would you mind getting something from the pharmacy?"

Itachi's lip curled in distaste. "You want me to go buy medicine? Now? In this weather?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. Now. And get more ice while you're at it."

"Use the snow outside."

"Itachi!"

He turned his head sharply towards me as if I had electrocuted him.

Itachi's expression changed rapidly, his gaze suddenly intense—almost smoldering.

He articulated his next set of words very slowly.

"What did you say?"

"Go get more ice." I measured his reaction carefully. "Please." I added in afterthought; fearful that I had perhaps pushed him too far, I wasn't sure.

He seemed to have come out of his sudden trance because his expression deliberately went back to being blank, smooth as porcelain.

"And what are you going to be doing while I'm gone?"

"I think I better cook something for him to eat in case he wakes up and decides to get hungry."

We both stood there staring each other down for a few seconds before he caved.

"You owe me," he growled. The door slammed as Itachi left.

Kakashi gave a violent shudder and I reached out to hold his hand.

"It's okay, Kakashi. I'm right here."

I gave his hand a tight squeeze.

* * *

That night I had to call the headmistress and lie that I was spending the night at Hana's (which I don't even think is possible anymore…).

There was no way she would let me go if she didn't think it was a girls' house that I was sleeping over at.

It was too risky to leave Kakashi by himself so I decided to stay for the night. Itachi did too for a while but I think he was only doing it out of some misplaced act of chivalry to me for being his girlfriend's best friend.

Yeah…something like that…

I fed Kakashi the medicine and even managed to get him to swallow a few spoonfuls of the rice porridge I brewed for him.

After another hour or so, Kakashi's fever finally broke and with the help of ice packets was now in a fitful sleep.

I gave a huge yawn.

"Go to bed." Itachi stood up. "I have to leave now or my parents might wonder where I am and send out a search party. I've already passed up dinner and curfew; they aren't going to be pleased."

I laughed. "Then you better go before they send the dogs."

Itachi must've been pretty serious about it because he didn't laugh with me…but then again when did he ever laugh?

"I'll see you at school on Monday. Goodnight, Sayuri."

I walked with him to the door. "Goodnight and Merry Christmas!" He looked back at me once more before walking down the steps.

After he left I looked around the room and sighed. Picking up the various article of clothing and random objects I started to clean to keep myself awake.

In a few hours the cabinets were dust-free, the laundry was done and the kitchen smelled like orange scented disinfectant.

Once everything was done and the wooden floor was sparkling, my muscles moaned for rest.

I shuffled over to Kakashi's room to check on him.

He was still sleeping quite deeply, his chest moving up and down. The poor guy had really beaten himself up.

I moved closer to him to get a better look.

Moonlight filtered through his open window and made his silvery hair glow an ethereal sheen. The tips of my fingers brushed his silvery bangs off his forehead and I smiled.

He actually looked peaceful now—not apathetic; not irritated or smug like the annoying jerk he sometimes was; just serene.

His mask still covered part of his face and I was itching to peel it off.

It looked so difficult to breathe with cotton stuck all over your face. But oh well…I wasn't about to take off his mask and then have him kill me in the morning over it.

The lids of my eyes felt heavy as I sat there in a chair by his bed, resting my head by his arm.

Sleep lulled me closer and closer, singing me a soundless lullaby…and soon the world became quiet.

* * *

There was an earthquake, I swear there was. There was rumbling and growling and more shaking…

I tried to roll over in my semi-conscious state but hit something hard instead.

Groaning I tried to reach out for the blanket wondering why I felt so cold and my bed felt so stiff…and then it all came rushing back to me.

I sat up straight. Trying hard to rub the sleep out of my eyes, I looked around for the missing sick patient.

The bed was empty with the sheets crinkled in letting me know that last night was definitely not a dream.

"Kakashi? Kakashi!"

Footsteps plodded behind me and a head full of gravity-defying hair poked its way in.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

I sighed in relief. "Don't do that to me! I thought something happened to you."

He raised his one visible brow. "I was just using the bathroom…"

"Whatever," I grumbled.

My back cracked as I stretched. I was definitely not fond of Kakashi's floor.

I eyed him cautiously. "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged. "A little better."

I grinned in relief. "Are you hungry?"

He nodded. He still seemed to have a weak constitution left over from last night like the fever had drained every bit of strength from him. The change was subtle but his once lean physique from long days of training had waned down to something like a skinny scarecrow. He really was too thin for his own good.

"Very."

"I'll make breakfast," I offered running to the kitchen.

Rummaging through the cupboards I noticed one very important fact—Kakashi had no food.

"Kakashi, how do you eat? There's nothing here!"

I emphasized my point by throwing open the fridge. All he had was a miso soup packet, a carton of expired milk and some energy drinks. And the only thing in the pantry was a bag of rice I used the night before to make his meager little porridge.

"I usually eat take-out."

"Alrighty, then we'll go out to eat."

He slouched by the bedroom door and I eyed skeptically.

"You think you can manage or should I go get it while you wait here."

He must've been determined to show that he wasn't that sick anymore because he immediately straightened up.

"I can manage."

We ended up going to the same BBQ restaurant Jaraiya took me to the first day I came to Konoha. It was a good thing they stayed opened on holidays. Then I realized that it was Christmas Day.

I couldn't believe I was spending Christmas with Kakashi…

"Eat anything you'd like," Kakashi said pushing the menu towards me. "It'll be my treat for taking care of me."

I couldn't say no to that.

After lunch, Kakashi insisted walking me home which was a weird thing because he was acting a lot nicer than usual. It kind of creeped me out.

We stopped in front of the door to the orphanage.

The tacky bangles of red and green hung off the door frame and the Christmas lights that were set up were old, some bulbs missing and others not working at all. Although I was proud of the wreath I made.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head like he was thinking hard of what to say next.

"Sayuri…thanks for everything. I…I'm really sorry about—"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." I laughed. "You should practice apologizing more for next time."

He blinked and then his eye crinkled slightly into a small smile.

"I'll keep that in mind."

I turned the knob of the door to go inside.

"Kakashi, never forget that you're not alone. I'm sure Obito wouldn't have wanted you to live like that. He wants what all of us want for you—for you to be happy. We're all here for you whenever you need us."

Kakashi avoided my gaze and turned his back to me. I knew that he knew what I meant. That I had just told him that how much his friends and sensei loved him. How much Obito had loved him.

He looked up at the clear blue sky.

"I won't forget. Ever."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I think I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter. It really progresses the story along and the chapter's way longer which I hope you all like. There's trouble brewing with both Hana and Jiro but Sayuri gets closer to Kakashi and manages to surprise Itachi.

If some of you didn't notice that whole part about Itachi suddenly freezing up when Sayuri asked for ice (no pun intended)...it was because of something she said. No, not the ice but a name.

It was the first time Sayuri ever called Itachi by his first name. Well actually she's said his name to other people, like to Hana but never to Itachi's face. It's always been 'Uchiha' this and 'Uchiha' that up until now. :) I also hope you guys liked the little bit of humor I put in with Itachi (I'm not very good with funny stuff.) about the snow.

So all in all, it's good. Do you agree? Let me know please in a review.

Thanks to **KakashiKrazed **for writing another awesomely detailed review! Can't get enough. :D Sometimes I feel like you know the characters better than I do! (LOL!)

Question: Do you like it when authors place themselves (or their friends, etc.) into the Naruto-verse and then write fiction about it? Why or why not? (Please answer in the review if you have an opinion about it. 3)

Thanks a bunch!

-Scripsisomnia


	9. Akahana

Chapter Nine: Akahana

* * *

After the break, I noticed one afternoon how Jiro and Hana were whispering fervently together in the hallway.

"Hey, guys. What's up?"

They jumped at my approach.

"Sayuri," Jiro started an uneasy expression on his face. "Uhm, Hana I think someone's calling me, see you later," he said quickly and ran off.

"Did something happen?"

Hana didn't say anything for a moment and spoke in a hushed tone. "What have you done?"

"Uhm? Nothing, I just got here…?"

"Cut the crap, Sayuri." Hana snapped thrusting something white into my hand. I took a look and bit back a scream.

It was the photo…the photo of me and Itachi…

"Wait, Hana. I swear it's not what it looks like!"

She shook her head like she was trying hard to erase what she had just seen.

"Itachi would never…he would never do something like this to me…he loves me…" she said slowly and raised her head. Her brown eyes narrowed. "It was you. You were the one who tried to steal him from me…even from the beginning."

"No, Hana! Listen to me! This was an accident. It was after school and we were both cleaning the classroom. There was water on the floor and I tripped and—"

"Shut. Up. I don't want to hear it from you." Her fists clenched and I couldn't believe she said next.

"Jiro told me everything. About how you forced him to be your boyfriend; how you found out he liked me and you got jealous and told him he had no chance with me; how you were always after Itachi and your little schemes to get to him…" the venom in her voice seeped through my body. "…how could you do that to poor Jiro? To me?!"

I took a step back.

"So that's it. Jiro's word over mine. Your _best_ friend."

I could see it all now. Jiro used me as the ultimate sacrifice. The last chance he could have to try and separate Hana and Itachi. His last bet was on me. But I already knew he had lost.

"_Ex_-best friend."

"Right," I scoffed. The decision was final; I could see it in her expression. I looked at her in a mixture of sorrow, anguish and pity.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Hana. Because for the record, the real criminal isn't me."

She turned away, refusing to look at me. "Just get out of my sight."

That was the last time I spoke to her.

* * *

Spring arrived quickly and the change in seasons was apparent. The cool weather brought the rain, greener plants and lots of blooming flowers.

And then that one holiday all girls go crazy over—Valentine's Day.

The hallways were decked in plumes of pink, white and red, littered with streamers and paper hearts. Girls flourished with pink tinted cheeks while boys hid behind closets hoping the day would pass quickly. It was a wonder no one got sick from that all that "love".

Jiro showed one of his friends what he was going to give to Hana and I had to keep from grimacing openly. They were black and burnt round balls like bits of charcoal. The dirty scumbag.

I was heading to my locker when I noticed that an enormous gaggle of girls were surrounding one locker in particular all dolled up. Let me guess...Itachi's locker.

I heard an audible squeal as the door opened and in came Mr. Popular himself. This was going to be fun to watch.

Suddenly the swarm of girls attacked.

"Itachi!" A petite blonde threw herself in front of him. "Here I made this chocolate for you!"

"No, take mine! It's white chocolate! It was really expensive but I got it just for you!"

"Move over!" A tall red-headed girl grunted, shoving her way to the front. "Itachi, I heard you only like dark chocolate so I made this with you in mind. Please take it."

A girl in yellow pushed her to the side. "You like cookies better, right Itachi?"

"Oh my god, I love you Itachi!" another one screamed hysterically.

It went on and on and I wanted to smack myself in the face as I watched. These girls…no sense of dignity or pride whatsoever.

At least Hana wasn't here yet to see this…nope, wait I take that back; she was.

Hana walked in behind Itachi with her gang of elitist girls, holding a wrapped gift in hand. She saw the crowd surrounding Itachi and immediately her face turned to something akin to disgust.

"All of you get out of Itachi's way! He's going to be late to class and he doesn't need all you're groveling first thing in the morning!"

Jiro couldn't be happier as he watched Hana pushing girls out of her way.

She glared at the lot of them as they slowly backed off, her group of girls confiscating the pink gifts out of their hands along the way.

Hana leaned close to Itachi and gave a swift peck on the cheek. Jiro clenched his fists tightly.

"I made this for you. I hope you like it." She smiled prettily.

Itachi took the gift. "Sure. Thanks, Hana."

Her eyes lit up in happiness at his acceptance.

"Itachi, baby, go on ahead. I'll deal with these girls."

Itachi looked on with a bored expression and nodded once before going on his way. Jiro glared at him in contemptuous jealousy.

As he passed, his eyes lingered in my direction. He raised his hand in greeting.

"Morning."

Hana didn't miss a beat and she too looked over at where I stood by my open locker.

It was the first time she had looked at me since the photo incident but it wasn't the kind of look I was hoping for. Instead, she narrowed her eyes at me as if to challenge me, daring me to respond to Itachi's greeting. Jiro looked at me and then to Hana and then back at me again.

"Uh…good morning." I replied politely, before turning away to rummage through my locker.

I didn't dare turn to see his expression…or Hana's.

"I'll see you in class, Sayuri."

"Yeah, sure. See ya," I evaded pretending to be busy.

I heard him walk away.

* * *

Later that afternoon I rushed to my locker, wanting to go home as soon as possible. I wasn't sure I could handle anymore let's-all-glare-at-Sayuri-even-though-she-didn't-do-anything-wrong treatment. I swear I had a pair of very attractive singed holes in the back of my head by now.

As I pulled the locker open a small white package with a pink and gold ribbon fell out. It was a box of chocolates and it was addressed to me.

There was only one name on the card and it was mine and no further indication of who had sent it. I flipped the package around, but nothing. Not a single letter more.

Even though I didn't know who sent it, I was still pretty happy. This was my first Valentine's gift!

I tore open the package and took a look inside.

It was seashell shaped chocolates colored in pretty edible shades of pink mixed with white and milk chocolate. I took a bite out of one and then stuffed the whole thing in my mouth. They were truffle-filled too. Yum.

Strange though. I wonder if it was wrong of me to think it was a secret admirer…blegh.

But then again it could just be a friendly token. Like maybe Hana sent it.

I looked over at her hopefully as she clung onto Itachi's arm guarding him from a crowd of girls.

Yeah, right.

But Kakashi wouldn't know which locker was mine and Itachi isn't the kind of person to be handing out presents—he receives them. Although he did give me Cheeks but that's only because he didn't want it.

I turned back to see Itachi receive another bag of sweets from a passing girl. He was holding an armful of them with a hidden sort of distaste.

Yeah, I don't think it was him.

The tasty chocolates looked back at me in all their chocolaty glory, reflecting my thoughts.

I shrugged and stuck the package into my backpack. Oh well, no time to worry about that now.

I felt a rough push against my shoulder. "Move it," Hana growled as she stalked past. Her pretty face was twisted in malice.

Normally I would think this was just some hissy fit stage some girls get and let it go. But I'd been letting this go on for far too long. The whole bitchy attitude was getting old and my patience could only stretch so far.

"You watch it. You're the one who ran into me."

Hana crossed her arms. "Oh, what's this? You think you have the right to talk back to me after what you did?"

I slammed the locker door shut. "Yes, I do. And I told you that it was a misunderstanding. Why can you not get it through you're thick little head?"

Our yelling had brought us to the center of attention and soon we were surrounded by hordes of people, all clamoring to see if the rumors were true. Itachi in the back tried to push his way to us.

Hana's face flushed, wary of her audience. "Don't talk to me like that, you little slut! You tried to steal Itachi away from me!"

I wanted to scream. "That's it!" I grabbed her front of her clothes and shook her hard. "Snap out of it, you stupid girl! Nobody cares if you're dating Itachi—especially Itachi!"

I shoved her. "And I've never tried to steal your damn boyfriend so stop talking shit about me!"

Itachi finally managed to get to the center but I was already gone, pushing past people so I could leave. Itachi tried to grab me. "Wait, Sayuri!"

I ran all the way home; the tears in my eyes making reality seem surreal.

* * *

My eyes were swollen.

And boy, I did not look pretty at all.

I had already missed out on a few days of school pretending to be sick. I wondered if anyone at school really cared…

My room was becoming too stuffy and so I decided to walk out to a grassy hill—the same one where I first met Hana.

The flowers were in full bloom and my fingers brushed against the soft petals as I sat there lost in thought.

"What are you doing out here?"

I looked up to see Itachi walking towards me. "Nothing," I sighed. "Just saying good-bye."

He cocked his head to the side contemplating and then decided to lay down next to me his arms pillowing his head. "That sounds morbid, even for you."

I laughed dryly. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"I'm sorry about what happened."

"It's not your fault."

And it was true. I already tried to reason with Hana and so did Itachi. She just chose not to believe us.

And then I don't remember what happened next but I started to cry again—the tears falling steadily.

A pair of warm arms wrapped themselves around me and I cried for a long time into his shoulder. He rubbed my back and for some reason the pain of the friendship lost eased.

I felt something soft and warm brush itself against my forehead and I jerked back in surprise. I touched the spot where he kissed me.

Itachi looked away.

"You should get home now. Or you'll miss your curfew."

I got up quickly, not understanding why my cheeks felt so hot. "Yeah, I better go."

It felt awkward but I couldn't seem to look him in the eyes.

"Thanks…I-I'll be going now."

I thought I saw him nod.

I sprinted home.

* * *

There was a note taped to the inside of locker the next day.

_Meet me by the training grounds at 6. We need to talk._

_-Akahana_

I did as I was told and walked up to the barren patch of dirt with three wooden pegs used for target practice. She was alone for once away from the girls, her shoulders stiff with pent up anger.

"Took you long enough." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Didn't think you had the nerve to show."

I sighed. "What do you want now, Hana?"

"You know what you did, you little home-wrecker!" Her tone was saturated in acidic loathing. "Itachi broke up with me because of you!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose trying to quell the headache I knew was coming.

"He dumped me. Can you believe that?! After all I've done for him and yet—" She glowered.

"It's all your fault, Sayuri! You told Itachi that I knew about that photo didn't you? He doesn't believe me when I told him that you tried to seduce him. He says that I'm being a fool and told me that he doesn't want to be with a girl who can't even take care of her own friends."

She took a step forward, her face livid with rage and her eyes watery. "He told me that I may be beautiful on the outside but that was as far as my beauty went."

Hana was shaking now, the anger radiating from her body.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"GIVE ME BACK ITACHI! GIVE HIM BACK!" she cried, the tears finally pouring from her lovely face.

I reached out a hand but she pushed it away. Her voices pitched into a scream of anguish as she continued to wail and I could only stand by and watch.

I sighed and waited as she composed herself, wiping the tears with her shirt.

"I-hic-still-hic-hate you." Her fire from before seemed to have cooled but not by much.

"The feeling's mutual."

"I don't get it. How could he choose you over me?" Hana's eyes were rimmed with red and her cheeks flushed from her tantrum.

"For the last time, he didn't. You only think he did, stupid." I really didn't have an ounce of patience for her. And I realized a sad truth—the Hana I knew and the one she had become were no longer the same person.

"I'm not stupid! You little whore!" The anger was back.

I crossed my arms and couldn't help but smirk. "You know the funny thing is Itachi was getting tired of your clinginess but you just never realized it."

Her sniffling immediately stopped. "What do you mean?"

"We were wrong. Itachi doesn't like you—he never did."

"Then _why_ would he go out with me?"

"Because you're the one who asked _him_. He was just too nice to never say no. All those other girls he dated—it was the same thing. They asked him out and he would always say 'yes'. That's why he changed girlfriends so often. Because as silly as it sounds he wanted to give all them a chance." I laughed loudly at the irony of it.

She stood there, stock still as my revelation crept up on her. Her breathing became heavy and then she charged.

Her speed was incredible as her fist came straight for my nose but I managed to dodge back into a tree. I caught her knee as it aimed for my stomach then twisted it, throwing her off weight. She stumbled but got back up quickly and withdrew a kunai.

I whipped out my own and crouched into a stance waiting for her move. Suddenly she was in my face, using her burst of chakra to launch herself at me—our kunais slid against each other, angry sparks flying everywhere.

Hana gave a yell and clawed my cheek. "I HATE YOU!"

Before my fist could collide with her face, two black shadow appeared—one pushed me out of the way and the other threw ninja stars in Hana's direction. They pinned her against a tree trunk by the outline of her clothes. Hana shrieked and kicked to get loose.

"Are you alright?" Itachi asked.

"I'm fine. How did you know we were here?"

He held up the note Hana left me.

"What are you, stalking me?" I snatched the note out of his hands.

"Sometimes."

"Put me down!" Hana yelled. I looked over to see Kakashi standing near her. He was trying to figure out how to get her down without letting her go haywire again.

"Hey, you're alright." Kakashi ran over to me, relieved to see that I hadn't broken anything this time.

"Barely."

"You're bleeding." Kakashi took a white cloth from his pouch and pressed it against my cheek.

"Thanks."

"What should we do with her?"

"I'm not sure…" I sighed. She stopped thrashing about and drew in a ragged breath, her hair messy and strewn about her face.

Itachi took a step closer but Hana refused to look him in the eye.

"You two, go home. I'll take care of her." Itachi said.

"Are you sure?" I knew Itachi wouldn't do anything to hurt her but still…

"Yes, I'm sure." He turned to look at me with a reassuring expression.

"Good luck."

Kakashi and Itachi gave each other a knowing nod as Kakashi took my arm and led me away.

* * *

**Author's note**: Thank you, **Sakiku**, for your wonderful, wonderful review! I was so happy to get it. :)

I was thrilled to see that you liked Sayuri. I tried my best to make her likable and I guess it's working. (Yay!)

And thank you for the constructive criticisms. It's a good thing you pointed out how I don't include too much of the real ninja stuff because it's true--I did leave a lot of that out. I think part of the reason was that I wanted to hurry up and end this "childhood" arc and move away from Akahana and Jiro. (I feel like it's dragged on long enough and we should get to the more relvant storyline of Naruto) Although I'm not entirely sure if I'm done with Akahana, she might appear in the future. (lol)

Also as part of war, I'm sure the generations of Kakashi and Itachi's time went through a lot of traumatizing stuff so don't worry. Sayuri will most likely not leave the next few chapters without a few psychological scars. (That sounds so evil. Hahaha) But I can't forget the romance!

Then finally we can get to the real meat of the story.

So everyone, I hope you continue to read and enjoy! Leave your interesting or creative responses in the review!

Question: Who do you like better? Itachi or Kakashi and why?

Thank you!

-Scripsisomnia


	10. Answers

Chapter Ten: Answers

* * *

"Ouch!"

"Hold still."

I flinched again as Kakashi dabbed a cotton ball drenched in some nasty smelling brown stuff at my wounds.

"It stings!"

Kakashi said nothing but instead pressed it to the open cut harder.

"OW!" I yelled out, smacking him on the head.

"Shinobi Rule # 31—!" He burst but then the words died on his lips as he forcefully stopped himself from finishing.

"Ah—never mind," he sighed, deflated.

I think I enjoyed yelling at Kakashi a bit too much—it seemed to get under his skin sometimes and he let me too. I don't know why I liked doing it so much but it was just fun to try and get a rise out of Mr. Permanently Grumpy. I watched him curiously from the sudden change in attitude and decided I could continue complaining till I saw fit.

"It still _hurts,_ Kakashi! Can't you make it, I don't know, not sting?"

Kakashi ignored my protests again and started to bandage my face with gauze and tape.

"Suck it up."

I pouted and looked away out the window.

"There all done. Now you mind explaining to me about the cat fight?" He asked, throwing the dirty used cotton balls into the trash and washing his hands.

"I'd rather not." I shifted uncomfortably on the counter in his apartment.

"It was about Itachi."

It wasn't a question but a hard-evidenced statement. It was my turn to pointedly ignore him.

"Girls are so scary," he muttered. "I'm disappointed in you, Sayuri. I thought you were above this kind of stuff."

"I am!" I cried indignantly. "I swear I didn't do anything. It's Hana who went all ballistic and territorial and thought I was trying to steal _her_ boyfriend!"

Kakashi's face didn't betray any emotion but he leaned towards me to listen as I vented.

"I swear I didn't see Itachi any more than as a friend. I really don't know where she kept getting this ridiculous idea from—"

Kakashi stopped me with a sharp flick on my forehead. "You're very dense, you know that?" He walked into the kitchen with an exasperated expression and pulled out two glasses from a cupboard to pour some juice.

"I know that's what you thought but you should see how differently Itachi acts whenever he's around you."

"Different _how_?"

He handed me a glass. "If you haven't figured it out by now, then you're on your own—hey, what's that?"

I turned quickly to my left and heard a great gulping sound behind me. When I looked back his glass was empty.

My head shook side to side, distracted and slightly amused. "You could've just asked me to look away."

He shrugged.

"Look, can you just please tell me what you mean by that, Kakashi?" I begged getting back on topic. I was so fed up with the whole Itachi deal, that I just wanted straight forward answers now. Kakashi stroked his clothed chin in thought.

"No."

"Pleeeease? Please just tell me a little bit. I'm dense, remember? You said so yourself," I tried again, this time trying to use a trick I had seen one of the female students use on a male sensei. It was the dreaded puppy-dog face, using expressively remorseful dewy eyes and pouted lips. I contorted my face into what felt like the puppy-dog but I think it came out a bit funny because it had absolute no effect on him. He held the same exact deadpanned, stoic expression—but I thought I saw an indiscernible twitch at the corner of his lips.

"He seems…kinder when he's around you. Not by much I admit, it's a little hard to catch at first but you can tell after a while."

I frowned at his observations. If what he was saying was true then how come I never noticed it? Was I really that oblivious as to how Itachi treated me?

"So it really is my fault, isn't it?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, it's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault. It's just human nature to be jealous of someone who gets what the other wants most. Hana wanted to be treated the way you were being treated—with love."

My eyes looked down, wary of where this conversation was leading. "But why me?" I whispered quietly, coming to terms with what was being implied. It sat there on the edge of my reality and I wasn't sure if I wanted to let that reality in.

Kakashi shrugged. "Why not?"

It was a difficult thing to understand for me. I was certain I never made any indication that I wanted to be something more than friends with Itachi.

It was clear; Itachi dated my best friend so he and I were supposed to act like in-laws.

I wasn't pretty. I wasn't the best shinobi in the class. I was dull and untalented so how could he possibly find anything to like about me? I never dreamed of such a thing and yet here was Kakashi telling me exactly what Hana told me—that Itachi, ninja prodigy of the century,could possibly _like me_…?

My cheeks flushed; the action sudden and involuntary. I didn't know what to make of it.

I stumbled into Kakashi's room in a daze as I lay on his bed, my heart squeezing at the thought. It was uncomfortable and I didn't like the way it sort of made me want to cringe—not of out of disgust but out of novelty. A mixture of a surprising delight and unwanted burdens.

"Does it bother you? Knowing he might like you?"

Rolling onto my back I gave him a sideways glance, unable to deny the truth. "A little."

"Why?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Would it bother you if it was someone else?"

I thought about it for a while, painting a scenario in my head. "No, not at all. I probably wouldn't care if it was someone who I didn't know."

I lay there in contemplation and quite suddenly every minute I had spent with Itachi came hurling back to my head, replaying itself over and over in my head. I reevaluated every move, analyzed every word he spoke to me and every action he took. And with each passing scene, I uncovered more pieces to the puzzle to the mysterious relationship between us. The reasonings, the white lies and the why's.

I was so deep in thought I missed what Kakashi asked me. "What—if— me? "

"Sorry, what'd you say, Kakashi?"

He raised his gaze towards the window and I couldn't but feel like he might have been slightly disappointed.

"Nothing."

* * *

Graduation day couldn't have come sooner.

It was a sad day for most (well most of the girls) as their beloved Itachi was finally leaving the school to become a genin. Crowds of them gathered, crying and showering him with congratulatory flowers. I, for one, couldn't wait to see him go.

The sensei started to call the names of the recipients of the official Konoha headband, the glinting metal winking at me.

Hana was one of the first few to be called. I watched as she proudly walked up to receive her _hitai-ate_*. I don't think I'll ever quite know what Itachi said to her that day when we fought but she seemed more… sane now.

It was naïve to think that I would never see her again (after all we lived in the same village), but I hoped that this would blow over our heads one day.

As for Jiro, he and I broke up but ended on "friendly terms". He credited himself to having split up Hana and Itachi (he was ecstatic) to which I replied by slugging him. He told me later (while holding his bleeding nose) that he would still go after Hana as they were now on the same team. For some reason I felt like they needed each other. I was happy to see him leave.

I still couldn't gather my thoughts on Itachi—that single enigma who had haunted my thoughts the past few days before the school's graduation came rolling around. I would miss him, for sure—he was always good to me in ways I had taken for granted. As for the possible liking me factor, I concluded that I would wait for him to tell me first-hand before I decided my answer. (My stubbornness refused to believe what Kakashi told me just yet…)

"Sayrui."

Itachi gave a discreet jerk of his head in the direction away from the crowds of people. I nodded and started walking towards the back of the school.

The answer may have to come sooner than I had planned.

Itachi extracted himself from his family and led me to a deserted swing underneath a tree. I situated myself on the swing while Itachi went around behind me and gave me a gentle push, the thick branches and leaves providing us with shade.

We were quiet like that for some time, the sound of the ropes straining as he pushed and I swung.

"Congratulations on graduating. You deserved it."

"Thank you."

"So, you'll be a genin now and you'll even get your own team, huh? I'm sure it'll make the missions more fun to have your friends come along."

"I don't consider teammates as friends."

I tried to fight off a smile.

"But they're your teammates. You're going to be stuck with them even after you become a chuunin. I hope you think of them as your friends by then." I laughed and turned my head to look at him. But he wasn't there.

The swinging motion stopped and I looked up to see that he was in front of me, trapping me to the seat as he held onto the ropes on either side.

"I already have a friend—I only need one."

"Who?"

"My cousin, Shisui."

I frowned. "Am I not your friend?"

"No."

"Oh…"

"You're something better."

He was very close. I could smell the soap he had used that morning mixed in with the sweet scent of red bean paste, like the kind of pastries you would find in a warm bakery.

His eyes reminded me of the feathers of ravens, very dark but with small streaks of subtle dark grey if you looked close enough, framed in thick long lashes. Normally they were stern and distant but now they were smoldering like the black ash left behind by a burning fire.

"You remember that time Kakashi got sick over Christmas and I asked you to get the medicine?" I breathed, much too aware of just how close he was.

"Hn."

"You had this look on your face… What was that about?"

"It was the first time you said my name."

I immediately dropped my gaze with his answer, unable to hold his intense stare. It made me nervous.

"Don't hide your eyes from me," he said, tilting my face back up.

"Will you miss me?" I blurted out without thinking.

"Probably. I get very bored without you," he said, stroking my cheek.

He took his time leading his finger over the bridge of my nose. I fidgeted uncomfortably. "Am I ever going to see you again?"

"We live in the same village, Sayuri."

"You didn't answer my question." I pointed out.

"I'll be around...when you least expect it."

"You never seem to give me a straight answer."

"Because you ask too many questions," he countered.

"Well you're the one who wanted to talk to me in the first place."

"I did. But I realize now that I don't have anything to talk about."

I sighed in frustration, snatching his hand from my face and holding it. "Then what do you want me to do, Itachi?"

"Nothing, I'll take it from here."

And then his lips were pressed against mine.

The kiss was warm and very soft and as soon as I registered that it happened, it was over, he was leaning away and smirking at my stunned expression.

I stood up abruptly almost clipping his teeth against my head with the sudden movement, the temperature over my whole body rising.

"You—you shouldn't have done that." My hands were trembling and I gulped audibly. First disbelief, then anger, then… I didn't know what it was but I realized that it was fear. I was _afraid_ of him. Of what he was doing to me. I never was good at expressing myself. Even towards my foster grandparents, it was difficult for me to tell them that I loved them. Though I knew it was there somewhere deep down in me...

"This is happening too fast." I put my hands over my eyes and breathed deeply. Alright, so I was freaking out. Sure, he kissed me on the forehead. That I could handle. It cou;d've meant anything. But this. This was on the _lips_. It was a totally different story.

"I'm sorry. I'm just… I don't have it yet, Itachi. I don't have your answer."

I looked at him, his face unreadable. It wasn't so much that I didn't have an answer for him. It was more that I wasn't prepared for the answer he had given me.

"I'm not asking you for anything, Sayuri." He soothed. "I only ask that you accept that it's there."

_Oh, I know it's there all right._ I thought frantically.

He moved away, seemingly defeated for now and started to head back towards the front of the school, leaving me with fever-like symptoms.

"Let me know when you have that answer," he waved behind his back.

* * *

**Author's note**: Hello, lovely readers!

So I'm hoping this chapter was a little exciting. Finally, we are starting to move towards the next arc which I've been itching to get to but I don't want to give too much away so you'll just have to wait and see.

Besides my three wonderful reviewers, Sakiku, Kairi-senpai and Kakashikrazed (I've written responses below) if you are new or have not yet written a review, I ask that you please do so and let me know what you think of my story. Do you like the OC? Are Itachi and Kakashi in-character? Do you hate it? Do you like it? Any feedback, constructive criticisms or comments will be welcomed!

So here are the thank you's!

**Sakiku**: Thank you for the long review, I kept rereading it over and over again, I was so excited! (lol)

I'm glad you liked the twist with Jiro pinning everything on Sayuri. It makes it all the more complicated, doesn't it? (mwuahhaha!)

You are so right about the whole OC thing... There just seems to be an insufferable large amount of stories with OC's whose authors mount with overwhelmingly too-good-to-be-true aspects that it ends up being about how wonderful they are (hmm, hope mine doesn't fall into that trap...). But I admit, there are very, **very** few stories with OC's who are Mary-Sue's but have authors skilled enough to write them into the story and makes you want to read more. But you also have to go filtering through a lot of stories aka crap to find those treasures.

As for Kakashi seeming a bit OOC, I have to say that I agree with you but only to a certain point. Kakashi is a bit more emotional here than we are used to but since we're talking about the younger Kakashi, I personally wanted to depict him differently from the one we all have come to love in the series. I wanted him to be a bit more angry, a bit more immature and perhaps less able to control those bottled up feelings because I wanted to show that he is, at the day's end, just a kid trying to get by life's hardships and grow up. Especially after having to lose his father in a way that Sayuri clearly ignored. In that scene, Kakashi was literally having a terrible day and seeing how Sayuri so nonchalantly bends the rules triggered him to go over the edge. (I mean how could someone under that much stress not go a little crazy now and then).

Now during the fight scene between Sayuri and Hana, I felt it necessary that Kakashi be included, coming to Sayuri's rescue because he had always looked out for her well-being in the first place (even during the bully fight). It was also meant to be symbolic in a way... one guy involving Sayrui can not be included without the other... and I shall stop here before giving too much away.

Oh, and the whole hand-holding thing, I guess I should have been a bit more clear with the wording so that the correct imagery was shown. (My bad! hahaha) But I definitely didn't mean it to be something of open affection. Far from it, actually, I only meant that Kakashi was escorting Sayuri away from the incident to get medical attention.

Well, I hope that cleared some things up and we will definitely see the mature, sarcastic, bad ass, the one we are familiar with Kakashi later on in the chapters. *wink wink*

As a wise friend told me, we all interpret characters differently and from that comes new stories and bigger adventures. And as long as we each believe that the character stays true to what's in our heads then all shall be right in the world. :D

So thanks again and I hope you continue to read and enjoy the story, Sakiku. Cheers!

**Kairi-senpai**: Thank you for reviewing, it's very nice to hear from you again! And I totally agree, tortured souls are HOT! (hahaha!) Kakashi does have a very lovely voice, doesn't he? (sigh 3) See you in the next chapter, Kairi-senpai!

**KakashiKrazed**: Thank you for writing another review! (^__^) I'm glad you got that satisfaction from seeing Sayuri and Hana having it out (I thought the same too as I was writing it. lol!). And yes, Sayuri is becoming quite the catch, isn't she? Though I don't think she's yet up to it (the poor thing). Kakashi is going to have a bit of run for his money if Itachi keeps this up... (tee hee) Hope you enjoy the next several chapters, KakashiKrazed!

See you in a bit. :)

-Scripsisomnia


	11. Time

Chapter Eleven: Time

* * *

The days after were long and tedious. Training through summer and fall then winter came again. Rarely would I see Itachi, he was always busy, but I would catch a few glimpses of him now and then whenever we happened to cross paths as he was on his way to his missions.

And when I did he acted strangely like he was wanted to tell me something then thought better of it. He told me that he had finally received his Sharingan—a great achievement in his clan. But he didn't seem happy about it; he actually seemed more angry and frustrated with each passing visit in his own quiet way.

His eyes grew cold when he spoke about his clan falling silent thinking he had said too much.

Kakashi changed too. He had been a jounin since Obito's death and in much too elite of a standing to spend time with a lowly academy student who had still yet to graduate. Sometimes when we would meet he would tell me about his trips outside of Konoha but never about the missions.

It seemed to harden him emotionally in that he took the missions seriously and he trained harder to make sure his comrades were safe, but he also changed in other ways.

Kakashi was now _more_ laid back than before, strangely enough, seeming to have a completely indifferent attitude about life in general—but I suspected it was only a façade. He was always very calm in any situation but this kind of calm had a different flavor to it—less on edge and more reserved as if to close off personally from the world. And for some reason he was always incessantly late when he used to be quite punctual. I supposed it came with the new personality.

He even told me that he was training to be ANBU, and then I really wouldn't get to see him. I felt lonely being the only one stuck in school. It sucked.

But I worked hard every day to catch up to both of them, determined to prove myself and managed to graduate in the following spring.

The hitai-ate gleamed brightly in my clenched fist. I decided to tie it loosely around my neck for the time being.

Then came my team. We were a formidable group of shinobi, overwhelmingly idealistic in our hopes and dreams for the future. They handed us the weapons and manual books, tossing us aside with a 'good luck'.

My sensei was a kind teacher but perhaps younger than any of us, shy of the age of seventeen. We were foolish; we were young and thrust into the open fires of war before we were ready.

"Sayuri! Get these bombs to the bridge now!"

There was another explosion behind me and I could feel the searing heat as I ran from it. We were on a mission to cut off a route the enemy had been using to supply their base ten miles south. It was my twelfth mission. I was a transporter and I was fast, real fast—but they didn't care, they just needed the package delivered whether I lived or died.

Pushing more chakra into my feet, I tore up the grass beneath me as I sped past the other dozens of Konoha ninja fighting beside me to stay alive. They were young just like me, some looking like they wanted to hurl right then and there. Screams filled the air and civilians ran haphazardly left and right as their homes went up in flames.

As I got nearer to the bridge, a group of Hidden Rock ninja exploded from the earth beneath me. I jumped just in time before one could grab a hold of my foot.

"Keep going! I'll cover for you!" My young sensei said, shoving me onward as he created clones to distract the ninja.

Using a large boulder as a launching pad I shot myself up a cool thirty feet over their heads. An enemy ran forward to meet me; kunai out when I felt the swish of my sensei's kunai hit him dead in the center of his forehead. His blood splattered onto my cheek. I flinched but kept running.

Everything was blurry chaos as I ran in a straight line towards the bridge, my sensei right on my heels heading off the ninja before they could stop me. Finally I reached the base of the bridge and began setting up the detonators, my fingers shaking, my chest heaving.

"Hurry, Sayuri! I can't hold them off much longer!"

Twisting the end of the wires together, I ripped off the paper seal and pulled the small metal fuse.

I sprinted away from the bomb, grabbing sensei's arm as I went.

"RUN!"

We had seconds to spare before they sealed off the area so that the explosion could catch the enemy ninja and the bridge in its wake. All we needed to do now was get past the border

Almost there—

We made it just in time… And then a deep sense of dread fell over me.

Three.

My sensei was there beside me and then suddenly he was gone. My heels dung into the dirt as I spun around and saw that a ninja had used a ninjutstu with spider-like webbings to drag my sensei back towards the bridge.

Two.

"NO!" I shrieked rushing back but a large Konoha shinobi caught me by the waist, looking down at me regretfully. I punched and kicked the air, struggling with the ninja holding me back.

"SENSEI!"

"SAYU—!"

One.

The bomb exploded and the energy from the force of the heat wave knocked me off my feet. Chunks from the bridge rained down around me and I didn't want to think how many of those chunks were actually human flesh.

My body forgot how to move, my mouth forgot how to speak and my heart forgot how to grieve—but the towers of red flames and billowing black smoke remained.

Thus the Third War ended and after the loss of my sensei, my team was split up and we were all put on different missions. I lost my first teammate in an undercover mission to the north—I never heard from him again. And the other was lost in an ambush.

Then on my sixteenth mission I finally learned first-hand what it was like to kill a man.

I liked to compare it to learning how to slaughter cattle.

The blood was always warm—aggravatingly warm, heated from the prospects of having their heart beat stop. The kunais were sharp, chiseled on a fine slab of stone to quickly slice the flesh. And then there were the screams. The screams were terrible and I didn't learn until later that I could silence them by slitting their throats instead, letting them gurgle on their own blood in their last, pitiful moments. But it didn't stop the images from coming and only served to make them worse as the dead screamed soundlessly, staring at me with those wide unblinking eyes in my nightmares.

Then the greatest loss of them all. Konoha lost our Yondaime, Minato-sensei to the Kyuubi demon. The village mourned and a new kind of anger was born.

Kakashi fell into a deep depression afterwards and even I could not help him then. I could only stand by helplessly as he picked up the pieces.

Many years passed and we were all beginning to put ourselves back together again, slowly but surely. This piece goes here and that piece goes there…

Konoha was leaning towards an era of peace, the wars ended, and the battles over. The scars on our souls would never fade and the trauma left in its wake persisted.

But I was lulled into a false sense of security, unaware of the storm brewing over the mighty Uchiha clan.

I had thought that this was it. There couldn't possibly be anything worse than this…

Then all hell broke loose.

* * *

**Author's note**: Alright so this is a fast-forward chapter and I posted up another chapter right after! Yay, high-five! :D

IMPORTANT NOTE: Also I realized as I was writing that there might be a bit of confusion as to where the characters stand in terms of age (there might be another shorter time skip after the Uchiha massacre to catch up to the original series) so I wanted to clarify all of that (and hopefully I won't lose any readers for doing this... lol).

When it comes down to it, the ages are not specifically verified in my story meaning that all the characters have a _range_ in age, not a specific one for each part of a scene. Also I felt that Kakashi's age was too far ahead from Itachi and Sayuri so I decided to fill that gap by booting Itachi's age up and taking Kakashi's down. (ahh! Please don't hate me for changing the series!)

In essence, during the Uchiha massacre Itachi is 13ish in the actual series but in my story he will be 15-16. Sayuri is 14-15 and Kakashi will be 18-19.

So I hope this didn't turn off too many readers and make them want to never read my story again. Sorry for inconvenience. If you guys have any questions, please let me know in a review and let me know what you think.

And another update about reviewing. I didn't know this was possible until someone pointed it out to me but now **anynymous reviewers are allowed** to also write a review to my story. Simply click the 'Review this chapter' button at the bottom of the page. Thank you everyone!

**Kairi-senpai**: Yeah, I loved the 'awww' moment with Kakashi too. ;)

-Scripsisomnia


	12. Eternal Rivals

Chapter Twelve: Eternal Rivals

* * *

ANBU HEADQUARTERS

Kakashi continued to fill in the tedious paper work, having decided that the worst part of missions was not the numerous assassinations or the risk of getting captured and killed in highly dangerous enemy territory. But the agonizingly long debriefing reports he had to fill out.

He looked outside ruefully, still in his ANBU attire, trapped behind an office desk among other empty desks. The sun shone brightly through the cheap, plastic blinds, glinting off his gravity-defying silvery-white hair. Many people assumed he was an old man because of the color, especially under his wolf mask, unable to see the smooth complexion of skin until they realized his lithe movements couldn't possibly come from an old man.

Kakashi sighed, wondering why today was being such a particularly long day when he was interrupted out of his thoughts by a flash of bright green.

Hideously obnoxious and loud in both color and style, Kakashi could not help but raise a brow at this flurry of bad bowl cut hair and thick, bushy brows.

"Are you Hatake Kakashi?"

Kakashi blinked once, then twice. "Yes."

The silver-haired ninja was certain he would have remembered someone like this. He found himself unable to remove his eyes from the thick brows of the other ninja, wondering vaguely if he had used a black permanent marker to fill it in.

"You are the Kakashi who won the eggplant eating contest yesterday?"

Eggplant eating contest? Kakashi tapped his covered chin in thought, balancing his chair back and propping his feet up on the desk—a picture of ease.

Memories of walking down a market street with a particularly bossy kunoichi and being forced into the contest came to mind.

"That would be me."

"Then you—"he cried, waving one accusing finger in Kakashi's direction. "—are my rival from here on out!"

Kakashi almost fell back off his chair. Almost.

"I, Maito Gai, Konoha's Noble Green Beast, had entered that contest with the fiery passion of a burning youth and thought I would win. I had eaten one hundred and forty two eggplants when the bell rang but it turned out that YOU had eaten one hundred and forty three!"

The peculiar looking male had sheds of tears streaming down his face. "Oh the agony! The shame! I had lost to a complete stranger with worse hair than me!"

Kakashi's right eye twitched.

"Such tragic loss could not be ended on that day. And so I vowed watching the glittery sunset that I would set out to find you and proclaim that I would take back the victory by challenging you to a rematch!"

Usually things of this nature did not phase Kakashi (he still _wasn't_ phased) but perhaps the way this strange green creature used the word 'glittery' in his speech made Kakashi somewhat wary to be anywhere near him.

"Well, I'm sorry that I eat eggplants better than you, Gai. But I really need to be finishing up this report, so if you'll excuse me—"

Kakashi got up and grabbed the files from the desk.

"Wait! You cannot run from me, Hatake Kakashi. I challenge you to the dango eating competition, this Saturday for the opening of new tea shop, _Fuwaraatti_!'

"Do I smell a bet?" A ninja with spiky black hair with slanted eyes and a strip of white cloth running across his face and the bridge of his nose asked, stepping into the room. His name was Hagane Kotetsu, a teammate and friend of Kakashi's among the ANBU with a gambling problem. The tip of his chin was also covered with a navy blue square bandage. When asked about it, he had told Kakashi that it was to cover scars he received as a child.

"I believe so." A second ninja agreed. He had large eyes and a hitai-ate bandana covering the top of his head, letting his long dark brown bangs flop over one eye. He wore a mask made of cloth similar to Kakashi's but which only covered his chin. His name was Kamizuki Izumo and he was rarely seen without his partner-in-crime Kotetsu. Izumo grinned evilly between Gai and Kakashi.

Kakashi vividly remembered their many drinking night adventures on their off days. He cringed slightly remembering his intimate relationship with the bar's toilet on one occasion.

"Butt out. This is none of your business," Kakashi stated bluntly.

"Ah, but Kakashi. Our new buddy, thickbrows here just called you out. You're not gonna let him get away with it, are ya?" Kotetsu snickered, slinging his arm around Gai's shoulder and giving him a hard pat.

Gai's eyes literally sparkled at the word 'buddy' believing he had just made two new friends. He had met the duo before but had never really spoken to them as they had kept to themselves and always seemed to be laughing whenever he was around. Gai never had any _real_ friends before. Everyone he met seemed only politely interested in him and so he thought perhaps they felt too intimidated by his dashing good looks.

"Yo, Izumo. How many guys with bowl cuts does it take to make you go blind?

"How many?"

"One 'Gai'."

Kotetsu and Izumo roared with laughter—Izumo pretending to feel the air around him crying 'I'm blind! I'm blind!'

"Ha ha! Good one, my friends," Gai boomed good-naturedly, laughing with them, oblivious to their insults.

Kakashi shook his head at the lame joke but chose not to comment.

Izumo leaned towards Kakashi to whisper. "Com'on Kakashi. All you have to do is beat this geek in spandex. Kotetsu and I are going to let some of the other boys in on this. We're going to lay it down double on you and hustle some cash to split three ways. You game?"

Gai took a step closer to Kakashi, his large pearly whites glinting. "Be there Kakashi, or the whole village will know that Copy Ninja Kakashi has lost to me, the beautiful Green Beast of Konoha!"

Kakashi shifted his weight to one leg contemplating, his expression unreadable.

_Hmmm… I can't have this idiot running around telling everyone lies_, Kakashi thought slightly annoyed, weighing in his options. _And these two punks are never going to shut up about this if I don't step up._

Kakashi knew his so-called friends loved to gossip and that they would never let him live this down if he backed out or lost to the weirdo.

"Alright, you got yourself a deal, Gai."

"Yes!" Izumo and Kotetsu high-fived, grinning at each other conspiratorially. "Man, are the boys going to love this."

"Excellent! It shall be the battle of the century! Generation upon generation of youths will speak about this legendary battle! They shall sing songs about it and write books—"

Kakashi sighed and walked out of the office, leaving the excited ninja to his fantasy world. He thought back again on the day of the competition and his legs unconsciously headed towards the Memorial Stone, intent on updating Obito about the crazy things that happened to him.

Kakashi took his time as he always did whenever coming to his favorite spot, mulling over the events for an hour or two while Obito listened to him with rapt attention, the surrounding trees rustling as if they were laughing.

Kakashi gave a small sad smile and brushed Obito's engraved name with his fingertips like he always did before saying good-bye with promises of coming back the next day.

He looked towards the setting sun and patted his stomach, feeling he had ignored it long enough and made a sudden decision to head east, deciding to track down the one person who was responsible for his current predicament.

* * *

"This is all your fault."

I looked up from shoving another chipstickful of noodles into my mouth. Glancing back down at my bowl of hot ramen then up at the silver-haired ninja, I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"It is?"

"I just got attacked by a thick browed freak in green tights."

I stifled a laugh. "Oh, you finally met Gai! Isn't he just the greatest?" I grinned.

It felt wonderful to know and talk about the same people with Kakashi after all these years, especially since becoming a jounin a year back. Admittedly Kakashi was still higher ranked because he was an ANBU captain but it never got old to hear him garble about people who I actually knew and met and worked with.

He plopped down on the stool next to me in Ichiraku Ramen. His expression as usual, apathetic. "You made me go to that eggplant eating contest and now I got some clown with lower lashes thicker than yours breathing down my back."

"Aww, com'on. He's not so bad. Gai's just—" Kakashi stabbed me with a pointed look. "—different. But in a good way. He's unique. I like him."

"He's making me go to a rematch this Saturday."

"You're going to eat eggplants. Again?"

Kakashi swiped the chopsticks from my hand. Then faster before I could react, chucked a napkin into my face.

"Hey—!"

By the time I removed it, the bowl was empty and his cheeks were bulging with my food.

"Ish ah dango eathing contess and yoo're goin' ta be dere ta pay fo mie enchance fee," he chewed.

I scowled at him. "Why should I do that?" He didn't even leave any soup behind. The pig.

He swallowed, eyeballing me with an annoyed look. "Because of you, my ass is on the line. Izumo and Kotetsu are never going to let me hear the end of it. And you know what? I want another bowl."

"Get it yourself, you fatty."

"I think I will. Excuse me, Teuchi-san?" He raised a hand towards a middle-aged man with smiley lines, the owner of the quaint food bar. "Could I get the beef ramen with extra veggies please?"

Teuchi-san smiled fondly. "Of course, only the best for our favorite regulars! Here you go, Kakashi. Eat up!"

"You can put it on her tab."

"You cannot!" I yelled indignant.

Kakashi suddenly turned to me with a creepy smile, both eyes visible and crinkled. He had to stow away his _Inu_* ANBU mask to keep anyone from knowing the dog mask belonged to him and so chose to run around a bit more bare than usual, the long scar on his left eye making him appear more scary.

"You're going to the competition tomorrow. You're going to pay for my ramen. Or I will dangle you off the tallest tree in Konoha and stick kunais into your spleen until you bleed dry and say, 'Kakashi, please let me be your slave.'"

Although he was smiling (more like the grin of the devil), the hard steel in his tone made the threat become all the more real.

I turned to Teuchi.

"Add that to my tab please."

* * *

My feet dragged behind, feeling particularly grumpy for having to roll out of bed in the late afternoon after an all-nighter mission involving chicken pens and viciously hungry foxes intent on snacking on feathery butts.

Ever since the end of the war, missions had become drastically much less life-threatening (which was never a bad thing because I didn't have to think about how to keep myself alive every five seconds) but it also took the big paychecks down with it. I accepted any mission laid before me whether it was a lousy D-ranked mission or a high profile bodyguard A-ranked mission. I didn't care; I just needed next month's rent and something to put in the fridge. After all, a girl's got to eat.

The new tea shop _Fuwaraatti_ was jam-packed with people sipping on warm tea and munching on tasty desserts. There was a large table out on the side of the entrance, advertising the grand opening of the shop with the dango eating contest.

As I got closer, I noticed a particular group of ninja surrounding two others, one taking up ryo and the other scribbling down numbers on to his clipboard.

I crossed my arms. "What are you two doing?"

"Ah, Sayuri! You came!" Izumo ruffled my hair in greeting. "Just making things a little more interesting. Nothing to worry about, kiddo," he assured, turning away to his group of friends.

I glared at him, annoyed—I hated being called 'kiddo.' Then I looked towards Kotetsu, beady eyes collecting the money with a greedy smile.

Shaking my head, my attention drifted towards an exuberant ninja in green pumping his fists into the air.

"Hey, Gai. Ready to take on the competition?"

Gai immediately jumped into his 'Nice Guy' pose, hair shining and teeth glinting with his thumbs up. He was always in a brilliant mood—the complete opposite to Kakashi.

"My health has never been better, my fair lady! It is beautiful is it not to see this many youths burning with the same passion and taking part in a friendly competition? It encourages comradely. It cultivates bonds!" he boomed.

"We. Are. HAPPY!" Gai shouted, throwing his arms out dramatically.

The start of the contest was coming closer but the silver-haired jounin was nowhere in sight. Kotetsu and Izumo looked at each worriedly and tried to stall with the judge while Gai looked around frantically. But after fifteen minutes of waiting, the judges pushed on.

"I'm sorry, but we need to get this thing underway—"

There was a loud poof and wisps of smoke billowed to reveal a tall ninja with spiky asymmetrical hair. Kakashi brushed himself off in an air of ease and walked with a slow gait, hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Rival! You've made it!" Gai bounced towards him with an excited expression. "I hope you have been training for this day, Kakashi. I have been practicing eating three hundred rolls of mochi and ran two hundred laps around Konoha this morning to work up an appetite!"

"Finally!" I exclaimed rolling my eyes and glancing at my watch but knew I had wasted my breath when he merely shrugged at my reaction. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered.

Kakashi ignored both of us and went up to the table and signed in while I gritted my teeth and paid for the contest fee. The prize was a life-time supply of free tea at the shop.

I thrust the ryo into the waiting hands of the employee. "You better win. I want to try their jasmine tea."

"I won't lose."

Kakashi took his place among the participants, unaware of the disgruntled faces around him for making them wait.

"Good luck, my rival!" Gai smiled fiercely his eyes brimming with fire. Kakashi gave him a curt nod.

"Begin!"

I don't know _how_ he was doing it but he was. Kakashi's face was a complete blur as he swallowed mouthfuls of dangos from one plate and left behind piles of clean skewers on another. Sometimes I thought I saw a flash of skin and blinked to see only the navy blue of his mask.

Gai on the other hand, was in the lead and in a frenzy, chomping through the dango with a roar. No table manners there.

Some of the other contestants gave up halfway and had stopped to watch with bug-eyed shock. The poor saps knew they had been thoroughly beat.

"Go Kakashi! Go Gai!" I cheered.

"You better win, Kakashi! There's a thousand ryo here with your name on it!" Kotetsu and Izumo shouted.

"And—stop!"

The judges stepped forward to count the number of skewers. There were a few minutes of bated breath as the audience murmured.

"And the winner is—Hatake Kakashi, with four hundred and two dangos!"

The crowd cheered, Kotetsu and Izumo hopping up and down, shouting, 'We won! We won!' Gai grinned at Kakashi; he was such a good sport and thumped him on the back with sincere enthusiasm.

"Congratulations, my friend! You have proven yourself worthy once again!"

Kakashi all in all seemed to be handling the fanfare with the only way he knew how—with an impassive expression. I could only imagine what things _would_ get him excited. I shuddered. On second thought, I didn't want to know.

He took the prize as the crowd soon dispersed and the group of betting ninja joined the two contestants.

"Ah, that's too bad, thickbrows. Maybe you can join us at the bar tonight. I'm sure the ladies will love Konoha's Noble Green Beast," Kotetsu snickered.

Izumo laughed. "I don't know about that, Kotetsu. He won't be much of a beast if he his spandex gets any tighter and his balls disappear."

The men guffawed loudly, a tight unsure smile creeping onto Gai's features. I frowned. There was a difference between joking as friends and completely making fun of another person. And this was definitely humiliation.

"Oh, like your balls are any bigger, Izumo?" Kakashi stepped in. "The last time I checked with one of the ladies at the Forge, she said she could get off faster on her vibrator than on you."

There was a commotion of 'Ooooh's' among the group as Kakashi took him down a notch. Izumo blushed furiously.

Part of me was shocked to hear this coming from him and part of me was grinning like a maniac for him being so well… utterly cool! I mean, how many other people did I know that would stick their necks out for another person. Not many—people usually get terrified of going against the norm. I admired Kakashi's bravery and it was quite attractive the way he smoothly snubbed Izumo. It was very nice of him to do that for Gai.

After the the boys had enough of their games, they all left leaving behind only me, Gai and Kakashi.

"Good job, Gai. You almost beat me," Kakashi clapped a hand on Gai's shoulder. "You should really come with us to the Forge tonight."

Gai looked at Kakashi with an unreadable expression. "Thank you, Kakashi, for standing up for me."

"No problem," Kakashi replied, sticking his hands in his pockets looking away, clearly uncomfortable with the attention. If I didn't know any better, I would have said he might actually be a little bashful. I smiled swapping my gaze between the two.

"I have determined to upgrade us to a new position!" Gai exclaimed, his happiness back on track.

Kakashi raised a brow.

"We shall be ETERNAL rivals!"

The silvery haired ninja pointedly started to walk away.

"Just think of it, Kakashi! You and I! The world shall know of our blooming friendship! What challenge shall we come up with next, my friend?"

"Come on, Sayuri. I promised you that jasmine tea," Kakashi said calmly, walking into the tea shop. Gai followed after him excitedly.

I was about to step after the two into the shop when I saw a dark figure in the corner of my eye, a few feet away by the street ccorner. When I turned to look the shadow disappeared.

_That was… strange_, I thought but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I shook it off.

"I want strawberry shortcake with that tea, Kakashi!"

* * *

**Author's note**: Did you like it, yes?

Review pretty please!

And remember that the questionnaires are never _required_ to be answered so if you get annoyed with them, you don't have to feel obligated to answer them. (lol!)

Question: As a writer, what is your greatest challenge when you write a story? As a reader, what do you look for in a story?

See you all soon. :)

-Scripsisomnia


	13. The Mission

Chapter Thirteen: The Mission

* * *

"You're not supposed to be here," Kakashi intoned, taking a blindingly fast sip from a bottle of his ice cold beer.

He had gone home after the dango eating contest to grab his ID and some money while Gai and I decided to head over to the bar to wait for him. I couldn't order anything to drink except water or soda but I did order a bunch of spicy chicken wings.

I glared at Kakashi, sitting on a stool near Gai and the rest of the gang of ninja I had seen earlier that day. The popular bar, the Forge, was considered the 'it' place to hang out in for any matured Konoha ninja. There were pool tables, plenty of comfy booths for private conversation, a long bar that served any kind of drink you could think of and of course, women. Lots and lots of _women._ Why else would they all be there? Well…except for me.

"_I'm _not supposed to be here? You shouldn't be anywhere near alcohol! I thought you said you had an ANBU mission tomorrow?" I hissed indignantly trying to snatch the drink out of his hand. He kept it out of arm's reach easily by towering over me. He had grown so tall over the past years (even with my own growth spurt, it still didn't compare)—complete with lean, wiry muscles. I still thought he was too skinny for his own good. And of course, he was still a jerk.

"I'll have you know, I'm a very capable drunk. I hardly get any hangovers."

I snorted, startling the well-endowed brunette sitting on Kotetsu's lap. "The last time I was here, I had to drag your ass off of two very wasted young women and make sure you could find the door to your own bathroom so you could hurl."

He took another fast swig. "And that was greatly unappreciated, Sayuri. You took me out of here before I could have any real fun."

I raised a brow at him, the loud music from the speakers clashing with the different channels of the numerous TV's in the bar. The Forge was a good place to speak frankly without having to worry too much about being overheard as the noise from the background canceled most of it out forcing one to be very close to the other in order to hear them. I leaned closer to Kakashi's so I wouldn't have to yell. The bar was dimly lit and threw a darker contrast onto his admittedly handsome face.

"Kakashi, let's be realistic here. You don't know _how_ to have fun."

This definitely seemed to have bruised his precious ego because his visible eye narrowed while the other was covered by his headband, making him appear very disgruntled. "I do too."

"Oh yeah? How so?" I challenged, crossing my arms. "Admit it, Kakashi. You love your work more than you like having fun."

I think he actually pouted a little, feeling a little resentful of his image as straight-edge, pencil-pushing, intense workaholic, something the guys around him liked to hold against him whenever he turned down poker nights and runs to the club. Kakashi did NOT do clubs.

"I'll prove it to you."

Kakashi called the bartender over. "Could I get another beer, two 44 Magnums, three Buttery Nipples and a cat sick? Actually make that four Buttery Nipples, let's make it two pairs of tits."

"KAKASHI!"

"What? I thought I was supposed to prove that I'm not a workaholic." He smirked, content at making me froth at him in exasperation. That was obviously not the point I was trying to make here (the smug little prick) and making oneself into an alcoholic did not mean he was having fun… Not that I would know... I had yet to know the social activities and benefits of drinking.

"You want anything?" he asked casually.

I threw him another dirty look for his sarcasm. "I'm not legal yet," I reminded him toying with the bottle of water in my hand.

"Tell me about it," he muttered darkly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, mind your own damn business," he said, the tone behind it was mean.

I frowned at his sudden snarky attitude. "Fine, I hope you get so drunk you throw up all over the floor and embarrass yourself," I sniffed.

I excused myself to the ladies room, wondering why I always forced myself to be there whenever Kakashi decided to get shit-faced with the others.

I mean, why was he even out here? He usually avoided social activities like the plague. Even when I was still a chuunin he told me how much he hated being dragged out to their birthday parties. The interactions and small conversations bored him and mostly made him feel uncomfortable—he just naturally became a social introvert. You couldn't get hurt that way and Kakashi cherished his solitude.

Although… He did start coming out more when I finally became a jounin… And found out that I was hanging out with everyone…

My train of thought was interrupted when as I was walking past a table, a trio of ninja in their early twenties leered at me. I grimaced openly. It was really stupid of them to do that, considering I was practically jail bait.

Ugh…boys.

I chose to ignore them and continued to shuffle on by when I felt that inkling of movement disturb the air and made the roots of my hair stand. Years of harsh training kicked in and without even realizing it, my hand found a foreign object invading my personal space.

"Woah, there buddy! No one's allowed to grab this butt except me," I warned, gripping the man's hand and throwing it back to him. He was tall with very short dark hair and an arrogant expression, sitting at the open end of one side of the booth. He stuck his leg out to block my path.

"What's wrong, baby? We thought you were ditching those losers for us. Didn't look like you were having too much fun." He grinned. Sidekick #1 and sidekick #2 snickered on either side.

There were always people like them in the world… The type of people who were cocky and who _liked_ being cocky, thinking they were so clever disrespecting others.

But you know what? I secretly liked them too…

I liked to beat some freaking sense into them.

"So why don't you come and stay with us? We'll show you a good time," he said, reaching out to grab my waist.

It happened so fast, he hardly had any time to think. There was a loud crash and a yell as his beer bottle smashed onto the floor, the clear amber liquid spilling everywhere. I shoved the creep's face forward into the hard wooden table, my right hand gripping black locks and my left twisting the arm that had been reaching out to me behind his back.

It was a humiliating position to be in, especially now that the commotion caused the surrounding tables of curious onlookers to turn around in their seats and watch. Typical shinobi...

"You bitch!" Sidekick #1 yelled, jumping out of the booth to punch me in the face.

I let the idiot on the table go, ducking to dodge Sidekick #1's fist and struck under him in the chin with a well-aimed uppercut of my palm, knocking him backwards right into a nearby table, its inhabitants shouting curses.

Whoopsie-daisy...

Sidekick #2 let out a war cry and tried to tackle me. Using all my strength, I swept out his legs from underneath him and grabbed the front of his shirt (he was heavy!), slamming him into a nearby empty bar stool. He was out like a light.

"You fuckin' slut! I'm gonna kill you!" the enraged creep roared, his face turning an interesting shade of maroon in his rage. His hand immediately reached for a sharp kunai, wielding it in front of him like a maniac.

"Go ahead and try, you ugly sexist pig," I snarled back.

Suddenly he lunged but then crashed to the ground when two figures jumped on top of him.

"Dammit! Why does everyone have to interrupt my fights?" I growled, glaring as Izumo and Kotetsu picked themselves up from the pile.

The drunken bastard was out for the count and the bar owner and security marched towards us with determined expressions. They took the trio and "politely" asked them to leave (more like the security tossed them out into the street one by one) for causing the commotion.

I had also been asked to leave until Izumo, with all his fabulous connections, stepped in. "It's alright, Miroku-san. She's with me." And that pretty much cleared everything up.

Kotetsu grinned widely. "Aww, don't be mad. It was three guys against half a chick, kiddo. We couldn't sit by and watch."

"I'm not mad! And stop calling me 'kiddo'!" I shouted at him, throwing my arms up into the air. I mean you would think that as the only underage girl in the bar (and a certified jounin for crying out loud!), you would think you were entitled to some rights to independency. But no! These stupid idiots who wanted to play hero couldn't even let me enjoy finishing up my fight before they thought they had to hop on in and save the damsel in distress…

Izumo pouted, his bottom lip jutting out rather cutely. "You didn't _want_ us to help you, Sayuri?"

…Okay, so I appreciated the thought behind their actions… After all, they did seem a little worried.

I sighed. I was a sucker for pouters. "Thanks for the help, guys."

They both cracked a cheesy smile, Kotetsu ruffling the top of head affectionately. I tired swatting his hand away. "Dammit!"

"What the hell happened?" A stern voice demanded.

I turned around to come face-to-face with a very angry looking Kakashi. He was clearly drunk if I wasn't mistaking the slight swaying motion he was choosing to partake in at the moment, the exposed sliver of cheek indicating a red face.

"Sayuri got into her first bar fight! And she's not even drinking age yet," Kotetsu laughed excitedly.

"It was just a fight," I shrugged. "No biggie. I took care of it."

"Who started it?"

I shifted my weight to my other foot, my bladder still feeling uncomfortably full. "They did."

There was a pregnant pause in which Kakashi's expression pooled itself into a deep scowl. I chose that moment to appear very interested in my nails. I hated it when he got like that. Worried sick, angry and annoyed whenever I bumped into trouble. Mostly annoyed though, he seemed to have gotten the notion that I was very bully-prone…which was true… It was mostly my fault though. My attitude tended to egg those jerks on.

"Where. Are. They?" Kakashi ground out each word with a poorly suppressed growl.

"They left. Security threw them out," Izumo informed, never in his life having seen this much emotion stir up the normally nonchalant ninja.

Kakashi turned and headed straight for the doors, a murderous glint in his eyes.

"Oh no you don't!" I exclaimed, holding him back by his arm. But he was much too strong for me and had me dragged out of the bar.

It was much cooler outside, the street lights on the roads had been on hours ago and the moon hanging in the dark air shone brightly. Kotetsu and Izumo followed.

Kakashi looked down at me with that fake-ass eye smile of his. You know, the one where he says he's not going to do anything but then he lies and goes off on a killing spree of perverted ninja who tried to make a move on me… Yeah, that one.

"Don't worry, Sayuri. I'm only going to talk to them. I'll be back in a minute," he said cheerfully, trying to pry my fingers off his sleeve. Izumo and Kotetsu looked at Kakashi and then back to me.

"No, you're not! You big fat liar!" I huffed, trying to pull him back. God, for a skinny guy he sure was strong!

Kakashi immediately dropped his pretenses. "Why didn't you tell me before when they tried to mess with you?"

"Well I kind of had to _go_, Kakashi. And they weren't exactly leaving me with any room to argue. It all happened very fast," I said dryly. The two quiet onlookers glanced back at him.

"You still could've ran back and told me."

Then again to me. "I told you, I handled it," I emphasized slowly. "Why do you even _care_? What happened to minding our own 'businesses'?" I asked mockingly, quoting with my middle and forefinger.

He was still drunk—I could smell the strong tang of the liquor coming from behind his tight mask. The silvery-haired ninja paused seeming to be stumped by my questions before there was a sudden distinguishable change in his attitude as he straightened and his face smoothed back into its usual unenergetic expression.

"Never mind," he said flatly, finally conscious of his little audience. "It's the alcohol talking. I'm going home."

Kakashi started to walk away, the gravel crunching as he went, hands shoved characteristically into his pockets.

_What just happened?_ I asked myself before running after him.

"Sayuri! Wait! Should we walk him home with you?" Izumo asked.

I waved at them from afar. "No, it's fine. I'll get him home. Tell Gai we said 'bye'. See you guys later, Izumo, Kotetsu!"

"Goodnight!" they waved back, thought I definitely didn't miss their exchange of worried glances.

I wondered if they saw how worried I looked too.

* * *

Kakashi walked unsteadily, although he wished he could escape quicker as he listened to the light footsteps of a certain someone from behind. The footsteps were a bit heavy for a woman but fleet of foot indicating a well-exercised body type and a wide spaced step usually from long legs, perhaps five-foot-six or seven... At least his deductive skills were still functioning…

In any other circumstances he might've run but this time he was worried about tripping over his own big feet, having overestimated his limit for the consumption of alcohol once again.

His face felt very numb and his movements were sluggish and so jerky, he knew that he wouldn't be able to defend himself if any enemies decided to kill him tonight.

"Kakashi, wait up!" Thenagain, maybe tough-little-miss-bar-fighter here might be able to chase them off, he wanted to scoff.

Kakashi tottered to the side every now and then, bumping into cement walls. The coolness of the walls woke him from the muddled haze and thus he would pause every so often to press his feverish face against it. This slowed his pace down considerably and allowed Sayuri to catch up.

"What's wrong, Kakashi? Why are you so upset?" she asked, her brows bunched together in confusion and concern.

Kakashi deliberately chose not to look at her, staring blankly ahead at the deserted road, blaming his wayward mouth for talking too much whenever he was like this around her. He remembered another time when this had happened and had ended up describing to her every last pair of underwear he owned, right down to the last embarrassing details. Kakashi couldn't look her in the eye for a week.

"There's nothing wrong. I'm just minding my own business. Mind yours."

Sayuri gritted her teeth. "Is there a valid _reason_ for you to suddenly coming up with this policy? Because as far as I know, you're the one who started this and I would like to know why we're supposed to pretend like we don't care about each other." She said, glaring at him.

Kakashi stopped abruptly to stare at her. She followed suite.

Care? Of course he cared! But how much he cared was the real question. They shouldn't even be seen together, let alone like this! It was socially unacceptable! Illegal even! He could get into a lot of trouble...

Kakashi watched as the moonlight struck Sayuri's ebony hair in a way that had every hidden shade of blue to dark violet reflect off of it. The light added a soft glow to her features, her teenage body refusing to let go of her baby fat. He suppressed a smile as he remembered teasing her about thirty years from now she would still get carded every time she went out for a drink. He couldn't imagine the supple tissue being bruised from a brutal fight like the one she had so willingly participated in less than thirty minutes ago.

Kakashi still felt angry enough to hunt those ninja bastards down…

Sayuri looked back at him. "Are you saying we _don't_ care about each other?" She said to him, distracting his thoughts with her sad expression.

He wanted to tell her the truth. He really did. And he was close to telling her too. But something in the back of his mind, some caring intuition that handled these kinds of delicate affairs told him to be a bit more sensitive of a girl's feelings and situations. And she was still so _young_! The timing just wasn't right.

But he had to say _something_ at least or he swore he was going to go insane…

"I shouldn't care…" Kakashi was startled by the subdued tone of his own voice. "But I do."

The words hung in the air between them and Kakashi began to worry that she may have understood the true meaning behind them, his mind still clouded with the tint of alcohol.

"Well that's a relief to know," she laughed weakly. "You had me going there for a second with your noncaringness."

Kakashi continued on his journey home feeling strangely dissatisfied. Sayuri trailed dutifully by his side. He definitely knew now that she didn't understand and was very much oblivious to what he thought she had implied. That he and her and _them_—well that could be answered another day he supposed. In a way he was glad because she was still very naïve about that particular complex area and he wasn't so sure of himself how she would respond. Love was complicated thing.

"Hey, Kakashi, can I ask you something?" she asked quietly, part of her hair obscuring her face from his view.

He gave a small grunt for her to go on.

"Have you ever fallen in love?"

Wait, had he heard that right?

"What—?"

"Have you ever, you know…loved someone…in _that_ way?" she tried to clarify, blushing despite herself for such a personal question, still avoiding looking at him. "Your first true love."

Kakashi wasn't sure how to reply or what she was looking for in an answer but he soon found the right words forming in his mind. "Well…I—I've been with girls before but no, I've never felt anything like that before in my life—"

He caught site of a small frown appearing on her face and tried to elaborate.

"—but recently…recently there's someone who's caught my interest…and kept it…"

Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she looked up at him in awe. "What's it like?"

"You're telling me you don't know?" he asked his own curiosity showing. Didn't all girls know this kind of stuff already? They definitely should know better than guys. And most guys knew better than him! So why did she have to torture him like this and ask?

She looked away towards the moon awkwardly. "I thought once I might have…but then I realized it was just a small thing and I wasn't ready so no, I don't know what it feels like either," she admitted.

Kakashi chuckled, the sound coming from him low. "You weren't ready or you didn't like it? There's a difference, Sayuri."

She scowled. He always seemed to see through what she was thinking. "It wasn't that I didn't like it," she defended. "I ran from it because I didn't know what to do."

"Ah…" Kakashi sighed. "Well, then maybe you should try it out one day instead of being such a wuss."

Her scowl grew bigger. "Fine, I will."

Kakashi stumbled over a rift in the road, bumping into Sayuri. His clumsiness was so unlike him. But it didn't phase her one bit. She had seen Kakashi at his worst, always there to catch him should he fall. This wasn't so different—it was frankly normal and comforting between them.

_ It had been an interesting night to say the least_, Kakashi thought amused.

"Com'on, Kakashi," Sayuri smiled as he tried to ignore the skip in his own heartbeat. "Let's get you home because I still need to use the restroom."

* * *

There was an annoying tapping sound coming from the glass window above my head. My apartment was part of a jounin complex just a block down the main road to Konoha headquarters where the Hokage's office was. The apartment was fairly big. There was a single room, a single bathroom, a tiled kitchen and a small living room leading to a balcony porch right outside-perfect for scaring the crap out of your neighbors by sneaking through the balcony than the front door. Shinobi were just cool like that.

Mine was five doors down the hall from Kakashi's, one door down Gai's and one floor above Izumo's and Kotetsu's (separate rooms of course. They were attached at the hip but I don't think could stand living together too).

It was one of the nicest complexes around specifically tailored to the higher-up ninja with a sizeable pool, gym and weapons sharpening area. They even had special perches built onto the windows without balconies for messenger hawks to land on which I dearly wish hadn't been built at the moment…

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I groaned and rolled over in my fluffy comforter to see the alarm clock next to me. 7 a.m.—I hated waking up early in the morning.

Tap. Tap. Ta—

"I'm up! I'm up!" I growled, ripping off the blanket and reaching behind the bedpost to open the window.

The messenger hawk flew inside landing on the bedpost, its feathers a handsome reddish-brown color. It clipped its beak at me as if to say, _Ha! Took you long enough._

It extended its leg towards me with a scroll attached to it. I unhooked it and unfurled the scroll to read.

"_Sayuri Okishi,_

_You have been ca—"_

"Ow!" I yelled out, trying to shake off the pain from my finger where the hawk had nipped me. "What is it now?"

The hawk gave an angry squawk. _I want food!_

"Here, you crazy bird!" I said pointing to the leftover piece of bread that was on nightstand. It crooned a satisfied sound. I shook my head, looking back at the scroll.

"_You have been called to the Hokage office at 0900 hours to debrief you for your next mission. Please do not be late. _

-_Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage."_

The hawk gave another squawk, _Thanks._ And flew off.

I sighed and landed back into the sheets. Two more hours. Sleep for just two more hours.

* * *

"I'm here to see the Hokage," I told the secretary outside the doors to the office.

The secretary glanced down at her watch. "Good, you're on time. Go in. He's ready to see you."

I opened one of the thick wooden doors to walk into a circular room with a single desk in the back center. The office had cherry wood floors, polished to perfection and the length of the wall behind the Hokage's desk was made of enormous clear windows. It gave an excellent view of the village and the streets below.

The Sandaime was an aged man, slowly losing his remaining hair follicles on the top of his head. He had age spots on his cheeks from too many days spent in the sun and grooves in his skin around the corners of his eyes and mouth from smiling.

I walked up to the center and folded my arms behind my back. "I'm here for my 0900 mission debriefing, sir."

He looked up with a benevolent smile. "At ease, Sayuri. Let me just sign this last document before I tell you the details on your next assignment."

"Yes, sir." I loosened up, putting my weight on one foot and stood there with my arms at my sides. With the countless number of shinobi running around Konoha, I was pleasantly surprised to know how he remembered my name and face. Then again, I heard good rumors that the Sandaime liked to know the name of his soldiers and be familiar with them. I thought it was very noble of him.

I took a look around the office and noticed a few tables on the right side of the room and book shelves on the left. The table on the right had a long pipe with an ashtray next to it and a few trinkets strewn around piles of papers and left open bottles of ink for his pen. There was even a tray with a small pot of tea and an unused cup. It was still steaming from the spout meaning he hadn't touched it yet.

I looked back towards the center as the old man in the desk scribbled away furiously. Quietly so as not to disturb him I tiptoed to the table and picked up the tray, walking over to his desk.

He looked up in surprise when he heard the clink of the porcelain next to him.

"Oh, why thank you," he said, pausing in his work to watch me pour the tea.

"No problem," I smiled at him. "You seemed swamped so I thought I might help you out."

He gave a raspy chuckle. "'Swamped' indeed." He took the cup and blew on the tea to cool and took a sip. "Ahh…my favorite, oolong tea."

I went back over to the front of his desk and stood there again.

"Now going back to your next mission," he paused to riffle through the right pile of papers. "Ah, here it is. This next assignment is a very good one. You will be traveling as a bodyguard with a son of a rich merchant on his journey through numerous countries. It will be a long-term mission and you may be asked to serve up to two to three years in which all living expenses will be paid in full as well as a monthly salary of 10,000 ryo a month."

My eyes widened. _10,000 a month! _

"You will be traveling to all sorts of lands and will need to fill out paperwork to get approval to travel which will take about a month. So in the meantime, I think you should take a break, say your goodbyes for now and prepare for this mission. Do you accept or decline?"

My mind was still reeling from all the information. It sounded like a golden opportunity to go out and see the world, my ultimate dream come true! So why wasn't screaming out 'Yes!' at the top of lungs to go?

"It's quite…extensive," I managed to say. "Am I going alone?"

"Yes, it says here that he requested for a single, highly-skilled kunoichi. I think you would be perfect for the job."

"Three years," I whispered.

The Sandaime nodded, knowing that I felt uneasy about leaving for so long.

"It's a long mission…but think of the benefits, Sayuri. You will get to travel, get paid 120,000 ryo a year and perhaps you will even find good teachers to acquire new skills during the trip. I must say, an opportunity like this doesn't come very often."

I frowned slightly. He was right.

"But it is up to you," he said patiently. "And remember that it is a binding contract, as long as you shall live you will serve him for up to three years. Once you sign yes, you cannot resign from this mission."

The mission sounded great but it seemed so daunting and admittedly, a little lonely. All my friends would be here and I wouldn't get to see any of there faces for three whole years! But I _would_ get a lot of experience out of the mission. It was awful and brilliant at the same time. I thought about all the people I cared about in Konoha and came to a difficult decision.

_They'll all still be here_, I tried to reason logically in my head. _It's not like they're going anywhere..._

My vision came back to focus and I looked at the Sandaime with a trembling heart. "I accept."

"Excellent," the graying man nodded, stamping a seal of approval onto the request form. "Come sign this, Sayuri and fill this form out before you go."

I finished writing out all the paperwork and still felt a little uneasy as I walked out of the office back towards my apartment.

A huge part of me was thrilled, dancing happily, bouncing around in joy. _Whee!_

But somewhere deep in my chest, a small part of me wept in the corner, regretting the decision.

_You fool, _it cried._ You absolute fool! _

* * *

**Author's note**: Yes, another double update!

And as usual keep those reviews (aka rants as some of you have affectionately named it because of my awesome questions, making you guys get all fired up! *wink wink* but I love it anyways!) coming along. Thank you! :)

Question:Who do you think Sayuri should end up with and why? You can name absolutely anyone in the Naruto-verse because as mentioned before this is a Reverse Harem so anything can happen!

**Kairi-senpai**: Yeah, I do the same thing too with the whole jumping around. So far though, all my attention has been going towards this story but I do have a bunch of others in my documents too. (lol) And I thought Rogue actually does say 'sugah'? Like the old X-Men shows did that, right? Not so much the newer ones like X-Men: Evolution, I think. I like reading those fanfics too though-they're fun. (I've written an X-Men fanfic myself but have yet to release it. hahaha!) :)

**Sakiku**: Yay, I'm so glad you liked it!

So to clear up the ANBU mask part, Kakashi is not wearing his mask at all from the time he is in the office (and I don't think Gai was ever part of ANBU and he's not in my story either but Kakashi was located in the Hokage building of the ANBU department and so that's why Gai was allowed to bother Kakashi because he's just writing a follow-up report from his last mission) till he meets up with Sayuri to eat dinner. As I was writing, I think I felt like I had to mention the mask but mentioned at a time that might've created the confusion as to when, where and how he had his mask. (lol)

So yeah, he definitely wasn't running around with the mask on because they're not allowed to reveal their identities (except amongst themselves, right? or no?) and Sayuri knows because Kakashi can't keep a darn secret from her. (hahaha!)

And I love character development! That's one of the main reasons I like writing stories. And I have to say, one of the worst pairings is the Kakashi-Sakura ones because as much as I get that the student-teacher thing is a good plot starter, it's Kakashi and Sakura...come on. That's just terrible!

See you all soon. :)

-Scripsisomnia


	14. Guardian

Chapter Fourteen: Guardian

* * *

Jab. Jab. Kick. Dodge, Roundhouse kick. Block.

My breath came in ragged heaves as I practiced my taijutsu late into the night. Being a close combat type my skills needed to stay sharp if I wanted to survive.

"Hht!" I breathed, throwing fifteen kunais at the targets surrounding me. The kunais whipped by faster, flying from my fingertips and hitting my targets with deadly accuracy.

With my fast speed, excellent taijutsu skills and decent ninjutsu, I was a force to be reckoned with. My weakness was genjutsu and that was only because of my mediocre chakra controls—they were as slippery as trying to catch a wet fish with oily hands.

The night was cloudy, leaving the training area in darkness when thick clouds passed in front of the glowing moon. The one torch I left burning threw flimsy shadows onto the floor which flickered whenever the wind howled. I sat down on a boulder, my leg muscles groaning in relief as I took a swig of cool water from my canteen and wiped the sweat off my brow with a towel. It was humid so I knew that it would probably rain sometime soon.

As I sat there my thoughts drifted to the new ninjutsu I was working on.

Yeah, you read right. My very own ninjutsu, baby! But it wasn't easy…

Developing a new jutsu took a lot of research and I spent many weeks just trying to get the bearings on how to go about creating one. I got migraines on more occasions than I actually got the material.

But basically it boiled down to a few things.

The first came with understanding the fundamentals of the jutsu which consisted of Nature Transformation and Shape Transformation. I focused on the Nature or elemental aspect.

The jutsu used water to mold itself into a weapon of my choice—a katana. The only problem I had with it of course, my super sucky chakra control. Too little and the sword would wilt, too much and it would burst. The needle had to fall precisely on the target—and that's where my control of the chakra had to be improved. On the plus side, if my theory was correct, this new jutsu would be able to cut through anything be it rocks or metal, flesh and bone—it had the potential to be a lethal weapon.

Simple in style but difficult in method, I used to have to use actual water to start the jutsu but now I had advanced enough to form the water directly in my hands by manipulating my chakra.

_Sharper. Thinner_, I thought. _More form. Less power. _

I clapped my hands together and felt the chakra rise within me.

"Water Katana Technique!"

A burst of water spilled forth from my hands and I slid one palm against the other as the sword elongated into the blade and hilt.

I grabbed it and waited for it to fall apart. It held.

"YES!" I shouted, jumping up and down, stomping into my little victory dance. "YES! It worked! It worked!"

After grilling on this single jutsu for months it finally worked. The katana was homeless as it didn't have a sheath and its form would ripple slightly as it moved. the feeling of it was even weirder. It felt like water but like solid water (not ice) and left water droplets on my palms whenever I switched hands. And of course, it was clear.

_Now to test it out_, I smiled smugly.

I swung the sword out quickly letting the light blade whistle through the air. I charged towards a wooden post and easily split it in half then stabbed it through the boulder I had been sitting on, the center of it caving inward upon impact.

I grinned. It felt so good.

There was a rustle in the nearby forest and my senses immediately zeroed in on the sound, my eyes narrowed.

"Who's there?" I called, the tone stern and authoritative.

There was pause and I thought maybe I had mistaken it for a rabbit or something.

Suddenly a large shadow dashed into the woods. Okay, it definitely wasn't an animal…

I gave chase and ran after it, the katana still in hand, following the figure deeper into the woods, branches lashing out at me. The shadow reached an open clearing of grass, the moon hidden behind a few clouds so it was impossible to tell who it was.

It stopped on the other side and turned slowly.

I crouched into a defensive position, wary. "I asked you a question. Now answer me, who are you? And why were you spying on me?"

The dark figure also crouched and judging from its form (and its hair), I figured he was a lean muscled young man or a rather broad-shouldered woman.

The shadow didn't say a word but instead lunged at me, kunai out. I blocked instinctively with my katana but oddly enough the sound of the clink of metal against metal was missing and instead my water-made katana muffled the noise and created a sound like waves crashing against a rocky shore.

The shadow tried to hit me again from the right. I blocked then threw off its balance by pushing back. My sword rammed forward to stab but the shadow parried it with a quick flick of its wrist. I lunged again but in a split-second and another powerful flick this time hitting my hand, it had effectively disarmed me. I watched in horror as the sword flew out of my grasp and burst into shapeless water in mid-air.

I looked back at him with a scowl. "Lucky shot," I growled.

I was expecting it to rush at me with its kunai but instead it threw the kunai aside and I heard the soft thud as the metal hit the dirt.

"What? Do they teach chivalry to shinobi these days?" I sneered.

Maybe I had offended it (bad idea) because the shadow leaped at me with such speed that its clenched fist barely brushed the tip of my nose.

Anger bubbled up within me—the stupid jerk could've broken my nose!

"Oh! You messed with the _wrong_ girl!"

My body tucked into fast handsprings, leaping from feet to hands, gaining momentum. At the last handspring, I jumped fifteen feet into the air and came down on him fast and hard with a punch.

The shadow blocked using both arms, sliding back on its heels. It grabbed my punching arm and swung me around then let go till I almost crashed into a thick tree trunk. But I managed to swing my body around, hitting the trunk with my feet and catapulted myself off of it.

It was like training by myself all over again, except with a real live partner.

Jab. Hit. Hit. Block. Sprint. Roundhouse kick.

At one point I realized that the shadow wasn't even trying to hit me, it was just blocking and evading. Finally I managed to find an opening and kicked it straight in the stomach.

The shadow flew through the air then flipped, landing back on its feet.

We both paused, me breathing heavily.

"Identify yourself!"

At that moment the moon finally appeared and the small clearing was flooded with a faint light.

A straight nose, two tear markings on each side of the face with hair pulled into a very short ponytail and those dark eyes framed in thick lashes stared back at me.

"Itachi?" I gasped, my mouth falling open. "Wha—what are you doing here?"

"Sayuri," he said in a low, velvety voice. "You've improved."

"You could've said something, you know. I was just about to kill you thinking you were a spy," I laughed sheepishly, feeling a little relieved it hadn't gotten to that point yet. I highly doubted I would have won...

He stared unblinkingly.

I cleared my throat. "Ah…so…what are you doing out here at this time of night?"

"I was watching you train. You seemed to have gotten stronger since the last time I saw you," he said with a smirk. "Even coming up with a new ninjutsu?"

I smiled modestly. "Welllll, it wasn't much but I think I've worked out the kinks. I can't wait to start using it in battle."

Itachi gave me a rare small smile in return and we stood there for a while just getting used to seeing each others' faces again after so long. The last time I had seen him was over six months ago. Then he broke the silence."Perhaps we should head back to the village."

"Oh, right."

We walked in silence and I cleaned up the training area blowing out the torch and picking up my backpack. Itachi handed me my towel.

"Thanks," I said, wiping off the sweat on my face. I took a peek at him and was disappointed to see that he wasn't even perspiring from the fight.

Geniuses…Feh…

"Would you like something to drink?" Itachi asked, leading the way down a lighted street, a few people walking by here and there even at this time at night.

"Sure." We walked into a twenty-four convenience store and picked up some soda while he chose a bottle of chilled green tea. We decided to sit outside on a bench in a park.

"So how's the family?" I asked taking a long sip, the carbonated drink fizzing in my mouth.

"They're fine." He sighed quietly, unscrewing the cap on his drink. "They haven't really been acting themselves... Except for my little brother, Sasuke." His expression amused at the thought.

My memory took me back to a small boy with black hair and a bright smile. "How old is he now?"

"He's ten*."

"That's still practically a baby," I laughed. "Is he as amazing as his big brother?"

Itachi gave me sidelong glance, smirking. "Hardly but he'll catch up soon."

He took a sip of his drink then looked over at me thoughtfully. "Sayuri, how busy are you with your missions?"

"Actually, I don't have any missions right now. The Hokage told me to take a break."

The dark-haired jounin took another swig. "Could I ask you a favor?"

"Uhm, sure." I agreed curious.

"You have to promise to keep it. I realized that I can't really trust anyone with this but you."

I flushed a little, embarrassed at his confidence in me.

"Could you watch out for my brother for me? Maybe spend some time with him so he doesn't get too bored when I'm not around the house—take him out to see things. I'll pay you back with dinner."

"You want me to be his babysitter?" I asked, surprised that he would even ask me to do something like that for him. I had never really met his family before…

"More like a guardian if you will."

"Well sure, I can do that. But I…I can only be there for a month. My new mission is right after and it's going to be a while before I get back."

_A while is an understatement. Try a billion years_, I told myself dryly. I didn't have the guts to tell anyone properly just how long I would be away yet...

Itachi suddenly laughed, the sound coming out in a short guffaw, startling me. "No, it's perfect. A month's all the time I need," he choked again as if enjoying a private ironic joke. It was the first time hearing him laugh but surprisingly I didn't enjoy it as much I thought I would as the laugh itself wasn't all that genuine. It was short and too wry.

"But why do you need me to look out for him for a month? Are you going to be busy or something?" I asked in concern.

Just the way he asked made me think he was going away somewhere, like he wasn't going to be around for long. But that was impossible. Itachi wouldn't leave the village—his clan wouldn't let him. And yet he was a free spirit, completely unpredictable… Sometimes I worried for this boy…

"Something like that," he replied vaguely. Itachi's eyes tightened slightly, forcing a faint smile. He was lying.

And it made me sad to know that he was. Itachi was always so gentle in his mannerisms but he also knew the weight of his duty as shinobi. If they ordered him to kill, he would without a moment's hesitation. He was the perfect soldier. But every soldier had a weakness…

The slight slump in his shoulders, the small bruises under his eyes, signs of fatigue and stress. Where was this all coming from? From the shinobi who had a happy home and a family? A clan to look out for him, their precious genius blood brother.

Kakashi and I had talked about this one time and we agreed that life for Itachi couldn't be anymore perfect. Unlike us, he had a stable foundation, people to rely on and a reason to be proud, a reason to fight and protect Konoha. But maybe we were wrong. Maybe this fairytale didn't have a happy ending.

I decided now that if he had his reasons then I wouldn't question them too much—he was a good person. If there was any problem in his life, Itachi would know the right decision to take.

"So—" I clapped my hands together cheerfully. "When do I start?"

* * *

I walked behind Itachi with wide eyes. I had never been onto Uchiha property before (this was an elite, traditional long-standing clan of Konoha we were talking about here) and was amazed at their deep sense of pride.

There was a long gate with the Uchiha symbol on it that surrounded the whole Uchiha compound. The symbol was everywhere, shaped like a round fan, on the stone fences lining the streets, the doors to their houses, hanging on the flags of shops and restaurants. It was like its own mini-community inside, isolated from the rest of the Konoha village. It was a bit subliminal and seemed to further promote the pride of the clan behind their obvious containment.

The most prominent building was the Konoha Military Police Force, run all by the Uchiha clan. There were a few of the uniformed Uchiha sitting around outside on chairs, seemingly bored with nothing to do.

Itachi stiffened as he passed them, his eyes narrowed. And I wondered if the same thought struck him as it did me when we had passed by.

How much purpose would a police force have on shinobi who had already given their word to the Hokage? How could you apply justice to shinobi who served the interests and protection of the village?

Finally we reached another gate winged off by tall stone concrete walls painted with their clan symbol. Itachi pushed open the heavy wooden doors to reveal a rectangular house inside the gates with a large expanded garden around it and a stone walkway leading to the front. It was a large house with sliding rice paper doors and earthenware tiled roofs.

"I'm home," Itachi called out, sliding open the door to his house foyer. He slipped off his sandals and I followed his movements. We walked through the living room area where there was a tea table with four mats to sit on, several large paintings and a vase with fresh flowers, heading towards the kitchen.

"Oh, Itachi, you're finally here," a feminine voice said. We stepped into a spacious kitchen to see a kind looking woman and a stern looking father. Itachi's mother gave off a very maternal feeling while his father seemed authoritative and proud. His eyebrow rose just like how Itachi raised his as he observed us from where he was sitting at the large table on the wooden floor.

"Mother, Father, I'd like to introduce you to Sayuri, a friend of mine. Sayuri, these are my parents."

"Hello," I said quietly, giving a slight bow. I wasn't really sure how to act around other friends' parents…

"My, my. This is the first time you've brought a girl over," Itachi's mother smiled.

"He he he…" I laughed weakly. That was a compliment, yes?

Itachi's father turned to me. "What is your surname, Sayuri?"

"Father, please," Itachi frowned.

"I just want to know her last name, Itachi…there's no harm in that," Itachi's father defended with a haughty expression. He turned back to me with a measured look. "Do you belong to a clan, Sayuri?"

I glanced at Itachi. He looked irritated.

"No, sir, I don't belong to any clan. And my surname is Okishi."

Itachi's father seemed disappointed. "I see."

Sensing the tension, Itachi's mother broke it with a kind smile. "Would you like to stay for dinner, Sayuri? We're having beef curry."

I shook my head apologetically. "Oh no, thank you. I actually have dinner plans with a friend tonight."

Itachi's mother looked regretful. "Well maybe another time then."

"Yes, ma'am," I said smiling guiltily. I felt bad turning her down. Itachi's brow quirked at his mother before turning to leave. "We'll be with Sasuke if you need us."

Itachi's father nodded as his mother put her hands on hips with a grin. "I'll bring up snacks and tea in a bit."

I bowed again awkwardly as I followed him out.

We were out of ear-shot when Itachi looked over and whispered to me. "Sorry about that. My parents can be such a pain."

I stifled a chuckle. "It's alright. Your parents are just being…parents."

"I don't know what's gotten into her. She doesn't usually ask anyone to stay for dinner. She won't even let Shisui stay—she thinks he's a bad influence."

It was my turn to raise my brow. "Really? But she seemed so nice."

Itachi shrugged. "Guess you're just special."

I scoffed. "Your dad didn't think so."

"He's just…proud," Itachi replied vaguely.

We walked down the hall passing by several rooms and got to one that had the door open. Itachi walked inside but not before a small boy launched himself at him.

"BROTHER! You're back!" Sasuke had wrapped his arms around Itachi's middle, nearly making Itachi stumble. "I'm so glad you're here! I was so bored today, I had nothing to do! And dad didn't feel like teaching me how to throw shuriken so I got mad and—who's that?" Sasuke asked abruptly.

Sasuke was like miniature version of Itachi with the same nose and mouth and eyes (I noticed Itachi had thicker lashes thought, longer than even me! Yup, my girl ego took a hit). Even their ears were similar except Sasuke had short spiky hair fanning out towards the back of his head and long bangs on the either side of his cute face.

Sasuke however seemed to have inherited his father's naturally arrogant look while Itachi, interestingly enough seemed to inherit his mother's serene expression.

The small boy raised the signature brow at me.

I stuck out my hand. "Hi, I'm Sayuri. You must be Sasuke, I heard a lot about you from Itachi."

Sasuke just stared at my hand. Itachi smacked him on the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that for?" the boy cried, cradling the spot.

"Don't be rude, Sasuke. Say hello."

Sasuke pouted, crossing his arms. "Hello."

I giggled. He looked up at me with a smirk. "Brother talks about me?"

"Of course he does! Itachi won't shut up about you," I laughed earning an irate glance from Itachi.

Sasuke looked up at older brother with an ecstatic expression. "So brother, are you going to teach me how to throw shuriken today?"

"Actually, Sasuke, that's the reason why Sayuri came home with me." The boy looked confused. Sasuke seemed like a kid who didn't like coddling. So I gave it to him straight.

"I'm here to tell that I'm your unofficial babysitter. You'll be spending time with me whenever Itachi isn't around."

Sasuke frowned and grabbed Itachi's shirt, pleading. "But I don't want to spend time with her. She's a _girl_! I want to hang out with you, brother."

"Hey! I don't have cooties!" I protested but they both ignored me as Sasuke's face dropped into the most pitiful upset looking pout ever. Itachi reached out and flicked the top of Sasuke's head with the tips of his fingers.

"Ugh—!"

"Sorry, Sasuke. Maybe another time. I need to prepare for my mission and dad's too busy with mobilizing the police force. You'll have to make do with Sayuri."

My face turned into a deadpan expression. I felt so unimportant. So unappreciated.

"Fine," he grumbled with a sigh. "But I bet she's not even that good of a ninja…Brother's still better..."

Itachi met my gaze and smirked while I threw back a scowl, knowing this babysitting job was about to get difficult.

Ungrateful little brat.

* * *

**Author's note**: No question for this chapter but a review would be nice. :) Thanks everyone!

*Note: Remember the age changes from before so Sasuke is a bit older here. Thanks.

-Scripsisomnia


	15. Boss

Chapter Fifteen: Boss

* * *

The sun shone brightly, beating down on the citizens of Konoha as they bustled about their business. A constant hum filled the air with their conversations as people haggled in the markets and shouted out their offers, intent on getting a respectable deal.

My open-toed sandals crunched underneath the dirt pathway, walking through the crowd, letting my gaze wander as I passed by shops.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke whined for what seemed like the millionth time in the past hour.

I couldn't help rolling my eyes. "We're _shopping_, remember? I thought you said you'd never been to the marketplace?"

His mother was very cautious with where he was allowed to go. But as his unofficial babysitter (another minor detail their mother would never agree to so we had to sneak Sasuke out every time; double guilty dose on my conscience) I thought it would be nice to do some unofficial things.

Sasuke stopped and pouted, people almost running him over as he clamped his hands over his ears with a frown. "But its so loud and crowded! This place sucks! I thought Brother said we were going to have fun."

He glared at me to say otherwise—a spoiled brat who couldn't appreciate anything. I put my hands on my hips.

"Fine, then you pick. Where do you want to go?"

He seemed surprised by my reaction and stood there blinking up at me with huge wide eyes and a faltering expression. "I—I don't know…no one's ever asked me that before…"

It was my turn to frown. Geez, just how sheltered was this kid? Did they stick him in a cave at home somewhere? The little bugger was completely dependent on other people's commands—it was like he wasn't allowed to think for himself. Feeling sympathetic I pulled the kid out of way from the road next to an open stall and kneeled in front him.

"Look," I sighed putting a hand on his small shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm not your brother and I know you probably want to be with him right now but he won't always be there for you. We all have to grow up someday, Sasuke, and part of growing up is making decisions. It's scary, I know, but it's not so bad, I promise."

My lips curved into a soft smile, ruffling up his blue-black hair as he tried to swat it away with another scowl. "You don't have to tell me how much it sucks. I'm already almost an adult, so trust me, I know."

There was a faintly sad expression in his eyes as he thought about what I said. Sasuke seemed like a smart and determined kid; he would figure this whole growing up part eventually. And I didn't even want to start on the whole puberty issue—that could be saved for Itachi to explain.

In the meantime…

Sasuke looked up at me with a grin. "Can we go to the playground?"

* * *

After stopping by a convenience store to pick some popsicles, I took Sasuke down to a large playground area brimming with hyper children and gossiping parents.

It was a large flat plot of land filled with all kinds of swings, monkey bars, sand boxes and plastic slides that shocked you after going on them from the static accumulated from the friction. There were a number of benches strewn around the open area for the parents to sit and watch.

I plopped myself down on one of them tiredly. "Alright, Sasuke, I'll be waiting here. You go out and have fun," I said, pushing him casually towards the play area.

He looked back over his shoulder at me, a little unsure. "Aren't you coming, Sayuri-_neechan_*?"

I laughed. "Do I look like a ten-year old?"

Sasuke grumbled incoherently as he walked towards a dome-shaped structure of monkey bars. A mischievous looking boy sitting at the top of the dome with two distinct markings that streaked down his cheeks like red fangs and sharp black eyes and spiky brown grinned down at him. He hung upside down just as Sasuke reached the center of the dome on the floor.

"Hey you! What's your name?"

Sasuke quirked a brow at him. "Aren't you supposed to give me your name first?"

The upside down barked out a laugh. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba. And you are?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Sasuke took it carefully as if he was afraid the other boy might bite. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke."

"Oi! Kiba! Who's your new friend?" Another boy asked walking over. He had hair that was tightly pulled back into spiky ends followed by a chubby boy with swirly symbols on his cheeks, munching on a bag of potato chips.

Two girls not far away playing in a sandbox looked over at the group in interest. Both had short hair that barely brushed their shoulders but one girl had blonde hair and pale blue eyes while the other had light pink hair and vibrant green eyes. Their attentions landed on Sasuke as they both blushed.

Chuckling to myself at the scene before me, I was about to lean back and relax when I overheard a group of three mother's whispering to each other heatedly.

"Goodness, it's _that_ child again—!"

"I just don't understand why the Hokage lets him walk around so freely. He should be locked up—"

"That cursed demon child! I would never let my precious children be anywhere _near_ him—"

They sent dirty glares over at a small boy with golden messy locks of hair sitting by himself on the swings, looking wistfully at where Sasuke and the other children were playing.

I knew exactly who he was. His name was Uzumaki Naruto, the host for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Those were dark days for anyone who lived to survive the attack by the cursed demon. Especially because Minato-sensei died, sacrificing himself to save the village. And when he did, Kakashi had lost something…something that just couldn't be recovered no matter how much healing his friends forced on him.

After the tragedy, the Hokage had decreed that no one shall ever speak of the demon sealed within Naruto in the hopes that the next generations wouldn't isolate him. But the law created deep repercussions that even the Hokage couldn't control.

The whole village ignored the boy, persecuting him with their silence and piercing glares. Blaming him for simply existing and resentful for being reminded of a time where they lost their homes and their loved ones. And of course, the children followed their parent's example—they didn't know any better. They mimicked their parents hissing whispers and cold glances, never letting the boy get close to them.

There weren't many who knew that Naruto was actually related to the Fourth Hokage, even taking his mother's maiden name to further hide the connection between them just like the Hokage ordered. I shook my head at the thought. What would Minato-sensei say now if he saw how utterly alone his only son was? To be lost and forsaken for the rest of his life.

As much as I wished I could do something for him, I realized that it wasn't my place to say and I might hurt him more with the knowledge. Naruto would know about his father and be reminded every day of the horrible life he had come to live because of his father's decision to choose him as the host (something even I didn't understand)—as the ultimate sacrifice. He might come to resent his father and I didn't want to see that. Not to a good man like Minato-sensei, no matter the outcome from the difficult choices he had to make when he was alive.

So I held my tongue and kept my place, only observing Naruto from afar. I hoped fiercely that one day he would know nothing but the truth and grow up to be a great ninja, just like his dad. But for now, I could at least make his life perhaps a tiny bit more bearable.

I got up and marched over to Sasuke. He looked up at me with a smile. "Sayuri-neechan! Wanna play?" he asked hanging from a steel bar.

"Actually Sasuke, I was wondering if you could do me a favor," I said with a persuasive smile. Hopefully my plan would work…"You think you could ask that kid over there to come play with you?"

Sasuke looked towards where I was pointing and frowned. "Oh _him_. Mom told me about him," he said in a hushed voice, reminiscent of the gossiping women from before. "She said I'm not supposed to talk to him."

Like I said, I hoped this worked. "Wellll, you're right but your mom's not here right now and I'm in charge so I say it's okay to talk to him," I said with a wink. I swear I was going to hell for corrupting the poor boy. "Besides, doesn't he look a little lonely?"

Sasuke gave Naruto a measured look as if deciding what to do before slowly nodding in agreement. "Yeah, he does look kinda lonely…" Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked a clod of dirt. "I guess I could tell him to come play—"

"That's the spirit!" I cheered, thumping him on the back

Sasuke moved towards the swing set with a nervous glance around him like he was about to do something illegal. The other kids under the monkey bars and the two girls at the sandbox paused in their playing to watch carefully, curiosity filling their wide expressions.

Sasuke got within ear-shot of Naruto, who didn't even know anyone was there, before he stopped a couple of feet away as he stared unblinkingly at the dirt beneath him.

Sasuke cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "Ahem…"

The blonde-haired boy continued to stare at the dirt, toeing it with his shoe. Oblivious.

"AHEM!"

Naruto looked up suddenly with a startled expression. His blue eyes wide.

Sasuke avoided the blonde boy's gaze. "You…uh…you want to come play with us?"

Naruto's body froze, still in shock, staring directly at Sasuke as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"You can see _me_?" he whispered quietly, pointing a finger to himself. No kid had _ever_ talked to him before. They all seemed afraid and hateful of him.

Sasuke smirked, seeming to forget he was speaking to the social exile. "Of course, I can see you, baka*. I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

Naruto went from flabbergasted to indignation. "Hey! I'm not stupid!" Then he grinned. "But sure, I'll come play."

"Alright, follow me," the dark-haired boy told him, leading the way to the monkey bars as the others immediately went back to whatever they were doing, pretending they hadn't seen the exchange.

I chuckled. Not exactly how I imagined but it was a start. I started heading back to the bench when I saw a familiar silver-haired ninja occupying it, one leg bent and resting on his knee while his right arm draped over the top of it.

Kakashi raised his left hand in greeting. "Yo."

* * *

"So I heard that you're leaving soon," Kakashi stated. He took a sidelong glance at me as I said nothing and continued to watch the children play.

"When did you find out?"

"A couple hours after you did actually," he said, leaning back as if he was simply discussing the weather, not the fact that I would be gone for three freaking years… "I was sitting outside on the roof waiting for the Hokage to finish when you walked in."

"Hmm…," I mused with a hand on my chin, a bit annoyed. "Wonder why I didn't sense you…"

"That's not the point," he said waving a hand airily. He pinned me down with his gaze. "You were going to leave without saying goodbye, weren't you?"

"Erm…well…" I stumbled, searching for the right thing to say. I hated good-bye's…

"It's alright," he finally said, shrugging his shoulders and looking away. "I would have done the same thing."

I nodded silently and twiddled my thumbs during the pause in our conversation—it was awkward and halting.

"The thing was—" I started a little sheepishly. "—I wasn't sure if I could _tell_ you goodbye."

Kakashi stared at me intently, waiting expectantly for me to continue and suddenly I felt very self-conscious, my cheeks flaring. Being among a bunch of shinobi did this to you. You could hardly talk about your "emotions" without seeming too weak or overly emotional. People acted like it was disease. It was just better living without having to think about those damned emotions on top of the nightmares you got every night for killing people.

After all, we were talking about Kakashi here—unpredictable and not very Mr. Warm-feelings-like. He would always be cool to the touch and strike when you were most vulnerable like a lightning bolt.

"You're—you're important to me, Kakashi. And you're my _best_ friend. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving you," I said, wringing the edge of my shirt at the end of my limit with my feelings. "I'm going to miss you."

When my very cheesy, very short confession was finished I glanced at him, afraid to see his reaction. Would he reject me outright? When had we ever been that close? Or would his face light up with that fake smile of his and tell me a pretty lie? My heart was beating wildly and the blood pumped against the veins of my skin.

Was it always this nerve-racking to just tell a friend how much you cared? I knew I wouldn't feel this way if I told this to Kotetsu or Izumo… It might even be funny. But maybe Kakashi was different. Maybe—maybe he was just a _really_ goodfriend…yeah…

Kakashi's face was smooth, as smooth as blown glass. And as expected he didn't betray a single emotion. I sighed quietly in my heart. My silent observant friend…

"You're important to me too, Sayuri," he said finally. I released the breath I had been holding, the knot in stomach slowly releasing.

"But you'll always mean something more than that."

I nodded vigorously just glad that he hadn't denied anything I said. "I know what you mean, Kakashi! You're practically like my older brother!"

He stiffened slightly then gave a small dry chuckle and sighed. "I guess I could settle with that for now."

I grinned missing the intended meaning and instead punched him hard on the shoulder, feeling a whole lot better. "So where's Gai?" I asked cheerfully. "Aren't you two supposed to be on your twelfth date today?"

Kakashi face immediately fell. "No, those would be matches. Don't talk about him. Even his name gives me a headache," he said, raising a hand to his head.

"Aww, what's wrong?" I teased. "Have a lover's spat?"

He glared at me with his one visible eye and still managed to make me shiver. How did he _do_ that? "You wouldn't be making fun of me if someone barged into your home at four in the morning to challenge you to run through the Konoha forest and see who can tag the most trees." Kakashi said irritably in one breath.

I shrugged. "Maybe he just wants a jogging partner," I said lamely.

Kakashi rolled his eyes knowing he wouldn't get my vote on this so he leaned back and fumbled through his pockets before pulling out a small bright orange book. I looked at the cover of it curiously to see a picture of a man chasing a woman. The woman kind of looked scared.

"What's that you're reading, Kakashi? A romance novel?"

He waved the book in my face with a sudden, all too innocent expression. "Oh, this little thing? Yeah, it's called Icha Icha Paradise. Ever heard of it?"

I shook my head and plucked the book from his fingers. "You mind?" I asked. He gestured for me to go on and I flipped it to a random page. Kakashi read over my shoulder with a leery grin.

_He touched me in that secret spot. Oooooh, it was delicious and he kept pounding into me again and again—_

The book snapped shut and I looked up to Kakashi with wide eyes, feeling another horrible blush creep up on my face. Damn those blood vessels.

He gave me a wide perverted smile. "Like it?"

"Is—is that what they really do?" I whispered in shock.

Kakashi's grin got wider. "Yeah, adults do this _all_ the time."

"No…" I whispered in awe. Now the normal reaction from a girl would be to scream 'pervert' and slap Kakashi silly but being the little pervert myself, I think I actually kind of liked it…

I've been to one too many sausage-fests.

Flipping through the book I buried my nose deeper into the pages. Alright so sue me, I only got a five minute lecture on this kind of thing from my female team captain on a mission to the Land of Stone. The captain was supposed to be acting as a prostitute and had to _be_ the prostitute. But she never gave me details like the book did. Who could blame her?

Kakashi's smile faded as he tried to grab the book out of my hands. "Hey, now. You got to share, Sayuri." I absentmindedly slapped his hand away and he drew back quickly with an 'Are-you-serious?' kind of expression.

"Sayuri, give me the book."

"No," I said flipping to the next page. I saw Sasuke run up to me from the corner of my eye looking tired. "Neechaaaaan… Can we go home nooow?" he whined.

"Yeah, sure," I said nose still in the book. Kakashi jumped up next to me with a panicked expression.

"My book," he yelped.

"Ah ah," I shook my head, grabbing Sasuke with my free hand.

"But Sayuri—!"

"Nope."

"Ah, com'on! I didn't even finish—"

"Later," I cut him off and pushed past him with a smug Sasuke in tow. He smirked up at the gaping jounin.

"Loser."

Kakashi sputtered in disbelief watching us leave, hopeless and defeated.

* * *

**Author's note**:

**Namikaze Hatake**: Thank you so much! I'm really glad to hear that this story is interesting-that was my main concern while I was first writing these chapters and I thought, 'Who in their right mind would want to read this crap?' Hahaha but I'm glad it's fun to read. Mission accomplished! (lol!)

And stalking me shall be very well received! I need someone to breathe down my back and remind me to write more chapters. :D Hope to hear more from you, Namikaze Hatake!

Yes! Finally, I am back, everyone! Sorry, I really kept you guys waiting, huh? Welllll...unfortunately I may have trouble posting up more chapters in the future. I am NOT discontinuing the story! However the wait period between chapters may be very irregular from now on as my academic classes have begun again (curse you, school!). On top of that, all my spare time will be spent towards extra curricular activities which leaves very little to be committed towards this story. T_T;;;

I'm really sorry about this and I've learned now that I should complete a story on my documents before posting them to the public. That would be much less stressful and annoying for both the readers and the writer. Sorry again! (I know, I know! This chapter isn't even that juicy to make up for the bad news! -_-;;)

I hope to complete this story by the end of the year, 2010 so we'll just have to cross our fingers and wish for the best. Thank you, readers, for being so supportive! Your constant encouragement is what keeps me coming back. I want to hug you all of you-I really appreciate all your kind words so thank you. :D

Have faith in me, readers! I shall finish this story someday and I promise the next update will be better!

Lots of love,

Scripsisomnia

Question: What would you readers like to see more of in this story? Drama? Action? Comedy? Romance? Tragedy? Hot sex? (hahaha XD)

Japanese translations:

*Neechan-a Japanese honorific term used by younger males towards older females; a title of polite reference meaning "older sister"


	16. Love

Chapter Sixteen: Love

* * *

It was a regular Thursday afternoon and I was busy packing stuff to put away when I had to leave for _the_ mission—that's the only way I could put it really. All my clothes, books, pictures and dishware were put in boxes and some of the furniture was wrapped up in plastic. Everything was pretty much set except for some of the plants I kept around the house, particularly my favorite, Mr. Ukki.

I saw him one day in the corner of the Yamanaka flower shop. He seemed lonely and a little uptight but I liked how some of his leaves were a little lop-sided to the side—it was cute. Mr. Ukki has thick green leaves flecked with yellow. It was a slow-growing plant but very hardy and vibrant. I liked that about Mr. Ukki—he never changed.

But where to put Mr. Ukki while I was away?

I could try Izumo who was a _little_ more responsible than crazy Kotetsu (only a tiny bit more). Then I imagined all the parties he liked to throw at his place and the danger the plant would be in…definitely not.

I thought about Gai and then remembered how allergic he was to flowers. Mr. Ukki bloomed small yellow blossoms in the spring. Itachi was going away on a long mission also and I didn't trust little Sasuke yet with a responsibility like this.

Then I thought of Kakashi. He might have the time and motivation if I asked. I tucked that chore away for later when the doorbell rang.

"Coming," I said and turned the door knob.

It was Itachi and he was standing there holding a large wrapped up bento and a plastic bad in the other hand.

"Hi!" I smiled brightly. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

He lifted the two packages in his hands with a touch of a grin on his face. "I'm free today. Want to go on a picnic?"

"Free food, spontaneous fun and good company? I'm down," I said, clapping my hands together. "Let me just grab a blanket for us to sit on."

We hiked out to a large field on a large hill that overlooked the village. The view was spectacular for a picnic, clean blue skies and a nice breeze. And the spread was even better.

"Wow, you really outdid yourself," I said deeply impressed, looking at the numerous containers of food. I learned that there were very few things in this world Itachi couldn't do. I would have to make that my ultimate goal one day. To beat him at something he couldn't do.

"Another skill of mine I'd like to keep mostly a secret," he smirked. "Don't just stare at it. Go on, dig in."

"Don't mind if I do," I said, breaking out the wooden chopsticks.

We ate and talked about random things, mostly about myself, the conversation always somehow being directed towards me. But I wanted to know more about _him_. I guess I didn't see it until now but I found Itachi to be very intriguing—his viewpoints on certain things in life and how he put a lot of faith into the village, more so than his own clan.

And okay, speaking as a girl, you couldn't deny his looks. Let's face it, the guy was downright gorgeous! His future wife was a very lucky woman…

"Sayuri, about that mission you're going on after this month. What's it about?" Itachi asked, putting down his chopsticks after he had finished eating.

"It's a bodyguard job," I said plucking blades of grass as I lay down on the blanket next to him and blew the pieces up in the air. "And it just takes a really long time to complete. Three years to be exact."

Itachi's brow creased as he frowned then turned to a rather pained expression, his body's shadow shielding my face from the sun. "So they got to you too…"

I looked at him, confused. "Who's "they'?"

"It's…nothing," he said immediately dropping the subject. Then he gave me a measured look. "You need to be careful out there, Sayuri."

I shrugged, twirling a leaf between my fingertips. "It shouldn't be too bad. The only enemies a civilian has are thieves and bandits—and they're easy to handle."

Itachi seemed unconvinced and looked at me with a tight lip. "Still, you'll be in foreign territory the whole time. That means a whole lot of enemy shinobi. "

I glanced up into his dark eyes. "Yeah, I know. But I can handle it. I think it'll be fun! I'll get to _see _places, Itachi."

He rolled his eyes. "Everything's fun for you, Sayuri. You could watch grass grow and you'd think there was a mini-fireworks going on in there".

I laughed loudly. "That's true," and shrugged. "I just like to think."

He looked at me with a strange expression—a mixture of amusement and affection. Why did he always find what I said amusing?

His tone abruptly became sly. "There was a reason why I called you out today."

I quirked a brow at him, suspicious. "Is this supposed to be payment for baby-sitting Sasuke? Because this isn't going to cut it," I said sternly crossing my arms. "I demand one expensive dinner at my choice of restaurant."

"Not quite," he said, the corners of his mouth turned up in an almost cruel smile. He did this very well. "I was actually hoping to coax an answer out of you today. You made that promise to me years ago if you don't remember…"

I shot up from the ground suddenly understanding where this conversation was herding me to. He looked back at me with that cursed intent gaze of his.

I cringed inside. Not this again… I mean, how could I _forget_?

Sure, we were both snot-nosed little brats at the time who hardly understood the meaning of... of _love_ but still! Itachi had _confessed_ to me. Things like this didn't come very often to a girl like me—too agreeable, boring and tough. I thought he would have forgotten something like that a long time ago, something to laugh and joke about later. But it seemed to have never left his mind…

"I—Could you repeat the question?" I asked, stumped, shaking the instinct to run back to the village screaming.

Maybe he would let it go if I pretended not to remember…

Itachi smirk grew wider and then did something that sent electricity shooting down my spine. He grabbed my wrists and pinned me down like in one of those intense movie scenes where the bad-boy corners the main girl, all cool and passionate-like. Except I wasn't the main-girl type and he wasn't exactly the bad boy, he was actually considered quite a goody-goody by his clan.

"Well if I remember everything quite clearly," he said in that velvety soft voice that made me shiver—a hypnotic tone liquefying his words like dulcet caramel or honey. "I distinctly remember how good it tasted when I _kissed_ you."

I visibly gulped.

Suddenly the food I had eaten before had cocooned and turned into enormous butterflies, all hell-bent on having a grand ol' time in my stomach. I was feeling slightly nauseous. Not in a bad way but in an 'I'm-really-nervous' kind of way.

_Don't forget to breathe, don't forget to breathe!_ I told myself frantically, feeling my face purple.

I sucked in air and tried to keep my head under control, his weight situated comfortably on top of me. He wasn't crushing me but he was doing a very good job making sure I wasn't going to escape. His long bangs nearly brushed at my eyes and I stupidly tried to blink them away.

"Wh-what was the question, Itachi?" I squeaked, trying to distract him. "The question?" It was clearly ineffective. He must have understood the panic in my eyes and decided a different approach.

Itachi let one of my wrists go, reaching up to trace a hand over my cheek and brushing a thumb over my bottom lip. His eyes glazed over as he focused on them.

"I want to kiss you, Sayuri."

I squirmed against his hold. "That, uh, that wasn't a question, Itachi."

Really? Did I have to be smart-ass right _now_?

The corners of his mouth twitched.

"Will you let me kiss you, Sayuri?"

A million thoughts exploded about in my head, my romantic side screaming and shouting in joy at me to say 'yes' while my rational side told me to push him off right this instant and beat the tar out of him. But one thought immediately came to the forefront of my mind. It was the conversation I had with Kakashi that one night he was drunk…

_"I ran from it because I didn't know what to do."_

_"Ah…" Kakashi sighed. "Well, then maybe you should try it out one day instead of being such a wuss."_

Romance was whispering conspiratorially in my ear—_you like him, don't you?_

The temperature in my body soared, my face flushing bright red, goaded by the wild beating of my heart. So I was in love…with _Itachi_?

His eyes were smoldering against mine. Waiting. They were so deep and clear and beautiful…and maybe…maybe I could do this…

"Ye—mmph!"

I didn't even have time to close my eyes; his warm lips were pressed heatedly against my own. My body was cold stone in his arms, my eyes wide—it was all very foreign to me. But his lips coaxed me to respond, pleading with me gently.

Everything was so warm, so compressed and tight and I realized that his arms were gripping me close to him as if he never wanted to let me go. Soon my eyes scrunched shut and I thought I saw sparks fly across them as I clutched the front of his shirt. Fire nearly ate at my bones and the feeling intensified when he stroked his tongue to my bottom lip. My mouth parted naturally and his tongue immediately raked across my teeth, entering the moist crevice.

_Nothing should feel this good._ I thought dizzily. My whole body was starting to feel light and my mind felt numb—a strangely pleasing sensation. _Kissing has to be illegal._

It wasn't until another minute later that I realized that those horribly pathetic moaning noises were coming from me.

Itachi pulled away, eyes lit with a glowing fire, victorious.

I breathed heavily like I had run a marathon, trying hard to gather my wits. To clear my mind.

"Guess I finally got my answer," Itachi said smugly, a little too smugly, not a hair out of place. I reached a hand up to feel my hair, knowing it looked mussed and my clothes were wrinkled.

I scowled at him. "Oh, shut up."

* * *

From then on, there wasn't an hour in the day I didn't see Itachi. He seemed to be everywhere, waiting for me as I went out to buy food, eating the food with me, lounging in my living room till I was finished with my shower, napping on my couch.

At first, it was unnerving..and annoying. I wasn't really sure what to do—he seemed to follow me everywhere. But he also seemed to fit into my everyday life so naturally it didn't matter anymore.

I refused to let him stay the night though. Heaven knows what his parents would do if they found their genius son in a girl's rundown flat? Hang me, I tell you. Hang me.

Although he did try on more than one occasion to sneak into my bedroom in the early morning the next day…

Otherwise, Itachi acted pretty normally…well for him anyway. He never held my hand in public or did anything to indicate to a random stranger that we were indeed a couple (which was fine with me, I could do without the hundreds of jealous, murderous kunoichi!) But he would on occasion lightly touch the small of my back when we walked through a crowded street or finger a lock of hair on the nape of my neck, chuckling when I shivered violently in reaction.

It was almost like a dream. Every day was more or less perfect. Maybe too perfect...

There was sharp knock on my door. Itachi was currently lounging on my couch looking out the windows with a blank expression while I sat near the coffee table, finishing up some reports.

"Coming," I said, getting up.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted me. He had a small package tucked under his arm. "Can I come in?"

"Oh…" I faltered. I remembered the last time Itachi and Kakashi were around each other. Let's just say it involved a flower, tape, some nin-dogs, flying shuriken and a goat."Actually, I kind of have some company over… "

Kakashi's eyes glanced over my head towards the inside of the apartment. "Ah, _he's_ here…"

I smiled up at him sheepishly.

"It's okay, I just wanted to drop this off before you leave," he said, shoving the package into my hands.

"Kakashi…" I grinned excitedly. "You didn't have to…"

He shrugged. "Just open it."

I ripped off the plain brown wrapping to reveal a simple black box. Inside was a peculiar looking kunai, three-pronged and what looked like a seal wrapped around the hilt.

"It's a special-type of kunai that's infused with my chakra. Use it in any emergency and it'll protect you. What with your luck, you'll need it," he chuckled jokingly as I glared at him. "Minato-sensei gave it to me after I became a jounin so I thought I'd pass it along to you."

I held the weapon tightly and gave him a toothy grin. "Thank you, Kakashi. I really like it a lot. I'll use it well."

To avoid any more of sentimental conversation, Kakashi suddenly gave me a mischievous look before poking me. He hit a nerve on my side and I squealed—a ticklish feeling that I couldn't help but laugh. He was so random sometimes! I tried swatting his hand away as he poked me again.

"S-stop it!" I choked. He got me again and I grabbed his hands this time as I crumpled forward, giggling hysterically. Kakashi laughed quietly with me, amused. Our tickle-fest was cut short however when I felt a solid presence behind me.

"Ahem," Itachi interrupted, one hand holding the door frame and the other propping him against the wall. It was a possessive stance, one Kakashi certainly didn't miss.

"Perhaps it's time for everyone to go home now," Itachi stated with a straight face looking directly towards Kakashi.

The silver-haired jounin raised a brow at him. "Assuming that this is Sayuri's home and that I'm a guest here, I believe it's up to Sayuri who she decides to kick out."

"Although...it _is_ getting late," I mused, watching the sunlight dwindle.

"Like she said, it's time for you to leave." Itachi started pulling me inside. "Hey!" I protested as Itachi pushed me behind him.

"You're interrupting our dinnertime, Kakashi—" Itachi said stiffly. I raised a hand behind him. "Uhm…actually, Itachi, we haven't even started cooking yet." The dark-haired boy ignored my comment. "—and besides it's quite rude of you to walk in on a couple's date."

"Couple?" Kakashi asked caught off-guard, reeling on the back of his heels. "_What_ couple?"

"Didn't you know, Kakashi?" Itachi seemed to enjoy dangling this particularly private piece of information in front of the older ANBU member, far too much then he should.

If the tension had been thick before now it was suffocating.

_Oh and don't mind the unimportant person who is still standing right here! No need to keep me in this conversation, _I thought bitterly.

Kakashi gave me a rather horrified expression, asking for clarification.

_Right then, time to jump back in._

"Itachi, please _shut up_," I hissed, trying to get past his immovable arm.

Instead, Itachi made a show of snatching my hand and held it to his lips.

"Sayuri and I are dating."

Kakashi glanced silently at me then to Itachi and to our interlocked fingers. I tried to pry Itachi's fingers off. Then before I could catch it, the silver-haired jounin expression darkened. When he spoke his voice gave me chills.

"Is this true, Sayuri?"

I couldn't look away from his face, I don't know why. Fear seeped through my veins like poison and I was hardly aware of what I saying next.

"Yes," I choked. "It's true."

Kakashi's dark eye narrowed into slits and turned cold. Ice cold.

"I see." He straightened up and looked towards Itachi, matching his expressionless mask but with something much more deadly and promising in his eyes. "My apologies to you both for interrupting then. Good night."

The tall jounin turned and swiftly walked away. I pushed Itachi to the side as I stepped outside.

"Wait, Kakashi!"

He paused, his back still towards me, not even bothering to turn around.

"Thank you again for the kunai," I sputtered, my cheeks flaring. This didn't feel right at all. "And I'm sorry…"

Kakashi turned his head slightly to the side, his tall profile intimidating in the dark and the cheap lighting of the apartment hallway.

"What are you apologizing for, Sayuri? I should be the one who's sorry." He hesitated like he was going to say more but then shook his head violently. "Goodnight, Sayuri." And with that he disappeared into the night.

I turned around and swiftly kicked Itachi in the shin. "Ow, what was that for?" He cried out, backing into the wall.

"For being a jerk! What the hell was that?" I yelled, stomping past him inside my apartment and slamming the door. I put the precious gift on the coffee table.

"It's called marking my territory," Itachi said sarcastically, rubbing where I hit him. His tone scathing. "I don't like the way Kakashi looks at you sometimes."

"I don't give a damn if he's pinning needles into my eyeballs—if I say its okay then you leave him the hell alone!"

I hadn't been this seriously pissed in a while. It was so unlike Itachi to start something like that. He hadn't told anybody else that we were going out so why did he feel it necessary to tell Kakashi?

The way Kakashi looked at me played in my mind over and over again—that lone eye of his glowering at me with hate and disgust. Ugh, why did I feel so guilty?

"You better apologize to Kakashi the next time you see him," I reprimanded. Itachi sat back down on the couch, refusing to look at me.

"Hn."

"I'm serious, Itachi. Kakashi's one of my very best friends."

He glanced at me with a rare, irritated expression. "Can't you have _girl_ best friends?" he growled quietly.

"No, I guess I can't," I snapped. "Not when I'm going out with you at least."

Itachi leaned back and crossed his arms. "Do you even realize that the guy is clearly in love with you?" He asked frustrated now that we were having our first argument. "Kakashi is in love with you, Sayuri."

"No, you're completely off," I said returning to my papers. "He's like my older brother."

Itachi snatched the report out of my hands. He hated being brushed off. I sighed, resisting the strong urge to hit him in the face. "When you were fighting with Hana who rescued you?"

I glared at him. "You and Kakashi."

"But who took you home and took care of you afterwards?"

"Kakashi."

"When you were at the Forge last month and got into that bar fight, who was the one that wanted to skin those drunk bastards alive?"

I raised a brow at Itachi. "Have you been talking to Kotetsu and Izumo again?"

"Answer the damn question, Sayuri."

I rolled my eyes. "Kakashi."

"Do you know why?"

I frowned. "Because he was freaking out and being overprotective?"

Itachi shook his head. "Wrong! Because he couldn't stand the thought of those thugs touching you. He wanted to go after them because he _cares_ about you. Because he's _in love_ with you."

I thought it about it for a few moments, but I was still very much doubtful. "I don't know, Itachi…"

The dark-haired boy leaned in closer. "Think, Sayuri. Wasn't there any moments where he was going too far? Where he said some strange things?"

The day at the playground with Sasuke came to the front of my mind.

_"You're important to me too, Sayuri. But you'll always mean something more than that."_

And then there were those other times where I would catch him staring at me… but he said once that it was because I was so ugly he couldn't look away. I beat him up after he said that… I was so confused.

"Well…" I trailed off.

"He has, hasn't he?" Itachi argued. Okay, so I admit there were _some_ things. I wrung the front of my shirt in distress as I continued to think back on all the times I spent with Kakashi. Itachi took my hands and held them to stop me from tearing my shirt.

"You remember that day at graduation when I asked you to be my girlfriend? Kakashi had been watching us the whole time."

I jerked my head up in surprise. "What?"

Itachi nodded, his eyes darkening as he thought back on the particular day. "He came to me afterwards and told me to stay away from you. He said that he had a bad feeling about me and that I wasn't good for you."

Itachi kneeled in front of me as I sank into the couch.

"I wasn't the one who sent you those Valentine's Day chocolates, Sayuri. It was Kakashi," he said quietly.

Slowly, very slowly things were starting to fall into place. Like the pieces of a puzzle of a puzzle coming together to show the big picture. I began seeing what everyone else around me had been seeing the whole time. It was all there in front me….

I couldn't believe how stupid I had been…

It hit me unexpectedly but the guilt I had been feeling before intensified. It weighed a ton.

I guess I wasn't hiding what I was thinking very well because the next thing I knew, warm hands were pressed against my cheeks. "Are you alright?" Itachi asked, cupping my face. "You look stricken."

"I'm fine," I managed to whisper, still trying to absorb the information with my addled mind. "But I think I need to be alone now."

Itachi's eyes roved over my face but I avoided his heated gaze.

"Look at me."

My eyes met his and they were overwhelmed once again with the sheer amount of fire glowing behind those thick lashes and obsidian black eyes. Itachi's eyes were determined and unyielding, intelligent and alert. He said the next set of words very slowly and deliberately to make sure that I understood.

"I refuse to lose you, Sayuri. I can't lose you too."

I nodded showing him that I heard but that I couldn't answer him back. The young dark-haired genius sighed quietly and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before he got up and left.

It was quiet in the apartment and I welcomed the silence. Peaceful. Then it finally happened.

Tears began spilling down my cheeks as easily as rainfall. Confusion. Disbelief. Frustration. I was breaking down.

At first I thought it was because I believed that Kakashi hated me now. That I understood why he never wanted to talk to me again and why I felt like someone had reached inside me and ripped out a piece of my heart.

But I realized a second later that that wasn't it.

This guilt, this silent agony when Kakashi found out that I was with Itachi was much too wretched to be simply about how I was hurting him because I felt like I knew his pain. That I experienced it for myself but I had just never realized it until now.

That it was painful for Kakashi to know that I was with someone else as much as it was painful for me to be with that other man.

It was hard to admit…but I knew that this was very much true…

Kakashi was in love with me.

And I was in love with him too.

* * *

**Author's note**: Yes, I got a chance to update! I was kind of worried about posting this chapter up because I wasn't too sure if Itachi sounded too out-of-character. He obviously had a lot to say in this chapter and since we don't get to see him talk very often, I was worried about the consistency... But anyways, let me know in a review. Oh, and from now on please look towards my profile page to get the lowdown on upcoming updates for this story. Thanks!

**Kakashi Krazed**: It's great to hear from you again! :) And yes, the whole kid Sasuke and Naruto scene was my favorite part of the last chapter! I couldn't resist putting in something that alluded to the future storyline. And you know, I don't think a lot of the main characters in stories are described as being perverted (well most of the stories I read with OC's anyways). Usually the main female OC is all about not being a pervert but I thought it would be more fun if Sayuri's view points on sexuality is a little less than socially accepted. :) (this is a M rated fanfic after all! ;p)

**Namikaze Hatake:** I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter, I hope you like this one too! ^^ Thank you for reviewing and yeah, Sayuri leaving is a bummer. But there'll be something interesting that'll happen before she leaves so I hope you like it later too! Thanks again!

I'll try to update again as soon as I can.

-Scripsisomnia


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